The Wardman Wire

Rats always try and escape from a sinking ship, we all know that. Which is why this story isn’t really all that surprising:

Gordon Brown is facing an escalating crisis of confidence inside the parliamentary Labour party as record numbers of his MPs apply to sit in the House of Lords after the next general election.

In the clearest indication to date that increasing numbers of Labour figures believe the party is heading for a heavy defeat at the hands of David Cameron… at least 52 MPs have formally approached Downing Street to be given places in the upper house. (The Guardian)

If it wasn’t such a sad indictment of this current Labour-controlled parliament, it really would be quite amusing. But unfortunately it shows that Labour MPs are more interested in saving their own skin and to contine living off of the taxpayer rather than go out and actually get a real job, like the ones the rest of us have.

This also shows that Labour are not a party who can reform the House of Lords – it needs to become an elected chamber, preferably elected by PR, though it is also justifiable that a number of specialists should be appointed as well. But by this overt display of contempt for the electorate, Labour is proving that it never had any belief in real reform of the Lords but just in vandalising an institution that had existed and done a pretty good job for hundreds of years and effectively waging class war on it – because they want to be able to put cronies on the red benches.

It also casts a new light on Alan Johnson’s call for a referendum on proportional representation – rather than coming from any actual (misguided) belief in PR, it rather came from a desire to save his bacon and that of his fellow Labour MPs.

Rats always evacuate from a sinking ship, and Labour MPs are already diving for the lifeboats. Will many of these rats make it to the Lords? I hope not.