Progress event 8th June: The Elephant in the Room

Posted by Alex Finnegan at Tue, 09/06/2009 - 10:28am in

At last night’s Progress event in Parliament, held just minutes after the PLP showdown, there was little sympathy on show for the Prime Minister at first.

Although the acting Director of Progress, Jessica Asato and Ben Bradshaw, the new Culture Secretary, valiantly tried to steer the discussion onto policy there was no getting away from the elephant in the room.

The question marks over leadership and loyalty could not be ignored. It was like the love that dare not speak its name.

And Progress members, not the most sympathetic to Brown anyway, were determined to have their say. 

Stephen Byers, the former Transport Secretary, launched a withering attack on the PM which was received with considerable applause by the audience.

Ben Bradshaw, convincing and articulate (why wasn’t he in the Cabinet sooner?) responded with a passionate defence of the PM which helped to change a few members’ minds.

Arguments were strong on both sides. The passion intense.

But the overall feeling was that nothing was really resolved. The Prime Minister will limp on like a wounded elephant. My sense was that the audience was split 50:50 on the leadership – much like the Cabinet, MPs and the Labour Party.

The audience drifted out slowly and slightly dazed at the end, mirroring Labour MPs just an hour earlier.

Unsure about what to do or where to go next, I suspect most Progress members there know that it will take more than just one good speech from one good Cabinet Minister to turn around the fortunes of this Government after the last set of election results. 

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