Les tricoteuses

[ThisIsANiceCage]

New thread to continue from God those NoW journos were utter scum weren't they?

oh ffs - every time i go to post a message mn crashes on me if this one works i'll post something relevant next

It is Ponders. I reckon Foundwanting could be onto something, but a bit faster - with calls for a vote of no confidence by wednesday and DC resigning before the vote happens by the end of this week.

pure speculation of course.

right Stephenson's card was marked as soon as the Champney's business leaked but all this stuff about them backing away because of Coulson and the PM is such a crock.

agree the timing of the RB arrest was to try and take attention off the Met and also to ensure she can't answer questions on Tuesday.
they are still calling the bloody tune....

ohhh - i am slightly wary of cameron going. i always think tories can always replace whoever is at the top with someone who is even more right wing. it's no secret the right wing of the party aren't keen on cameron and the coalition...
do we really want an even more hardcore tory in charge? especially when public services are already being cut so much??

So the money to the FA chief and MC was for phone numbers?

Any replacement for DC will be temporary until a snap election is called. Milliband must be getting his song ready

well Thatcher was ditched to be replaced by Major - was he even more right wing?

kit malthouse (dep mayor of london) on BBC News "Sir Paul brought down by innuendo" - ummmm - no - because he met NI more frequently than most London politicians and accepted a gift worth £12k from a businessman...

Is there anyway there could be a new election.

Awesome but to the right of Thatcher surely was down the abyss - at that point they could only go slightly to the left!

X-post with noddy

noddy no think MC and the head of the FA were themselves hacked - so it was compensation for that.

If Cameron resigned, who do you reckon they'd elect instead?

Not Osbourne... I'd bet that if DC is tainted he is too.

Who else is there that hasn't come unstuck with 'U-turns' etc in the last few months. Theresa May perhaps? (can't think of a single other senior Tory right now...)

teej - that's true. They would have had to open up a whole new school of political philosophy to account for a further move 'to the right'.

I just read in the Telegraph about Gordon Brown hosting a ''slumber party' for RB in 2008 - anyone know what that's all about?

Agree that Cameron's lack of apology on Coulson is incredulous - and suggests something more - but are they all just as bad as each other?

honestly don't want a snap election right now. it'll be a bun fight about this rather than policy in difficult times - which is what we need.
also the markets will not like the volatility and uncertainty - at a time when europe is already on shaky ground in greece, italy etc.
also - i have yet to be convinced by EM. he has taken a lead on this but that is like shooting fish in a barrel ffs.

teej it might give the lib dems a good get out from the coalition though. they could withdraw their support.

i suspect cleggy is trying to work out how to get back all those brownie points he's lost, and with it, his career.

no coalition would almost certainly cause a snap election.

Laugs, Sarah Brown had the 'slumber party' (honestly! for grown women! what are they on?) & R Brooks was one of the guests - I don't think we know any more than that.

I think if we have a snap election it would probably sink the lib dems which would be a pity.
ooo, apprentice time.

\link{http://www.kenlivingstone.com/sir-paul-stephenson\Ken Livingstone's take on the Stephenson resignation}

"Sir Paul has gone, Rebekah Wade has resigned and has been arrested, Andy Coulson has been arrested, Neil Wallis has been arrested, yet the Mayor has made no apology for smearing the phone-hacking allegations as a 'song and dance about nothing.' He should have acted sooner, and not attacked the original phone-hacking stories, when it now turns out that Neil Wallis had been appointed on his watch.
"Sir Paul Stephenson is the Police Commissioner Boris Johnson wanted ? his appointment flows directly from Johnson?s high-profile ousting of the previous Commissioner Sir Ian Blair. That high-stakes move binds Johnson very closely in to decisions taken by senior figures at the Met."

Stephenson: I hired a NOTW exec under investigation for hacking as a PR so I have to resign...taxi for Mr Cameron!

(from twitter)

Well, all this gives a new meaning to 'we're all in this together'.

i would like to see an election. it would stop the destruction of the NHS and save tens of thousands of public sector jobs just for a start off

blardy hell... have been out all day and missed EVERYTHING.

Met office chief has resigned over this whole affair (quick newsflash on BBC)

Mm, I think the Champneys thing is a red herring. (Outside Organisation do PR for everyone from David Bowie to Naomi Campbell, and weren't associated with Stephenson's stay).

Agree that the number of Stephenson's meetings with NI and the presence of Neil Wallis himself at the Met are much more significant. But this is the first resignation / arrest that I don't feel was richly deserved.