Thoughts on politics and life from a liberal perspective

Wednesday 29 April 2009

"Gordon Brown resign" petition. Now at the top!

The "Gordon Brown resign" petition has just reached the top of the chart with 28,454 signatures. Congratulations to Kalvis Jansons for getting there in just over a week!

It will be interesting to see how Number 10 responds to this now. They surely cannot completely ignore it. I know they can claim that some of the signatures will be spurious but I bet the vast majority are from real people and it reflects a strong feeling within the country that the man is a disaster and he should go.

There was talk within the blogosphere earlier today that David Cameron might bring this subject up during PMQs. I had hoped he might but he did not and the more I have thought about it, the more unlikely this seemed. Brown could have plucked a few of the obviously spurious names from the list that had made it through the vetting to make Cameron seem silly. Also, Cameron is probably thinking that assuming he becomes PM himself, after 6 months or a year of tough decisions when he is unpopular, a similar petition against him could be started and he could then find himself skewered with his own words from today.

But just because Cameron and others from within the political classes do not want to make the running on this does not mean that others such as political bloggers should not. Hopefully now it is at the top is should garner more media coverage and we can then get many more signatures. I think the next target should be 100,000 which should be achievable within the next couple of weeks if it is publicised widely enough.

5 comments:

Costigan Quist said...

But in 2005 six million people voted Lib Dem and even more Tory.

28,000 people out of an electorate of 40 million or so is surely just a stunt and I suspect Gordon will treat it as such.

Mark Thompson said...

Yes, there is no denying that it is a very small proportion of the population. But they actually represent a much larger proportion of the population of the country. The polls make it clear that most people have had enough of Brown and his tired and increasingly beleaguered government.

There is also something satisfying about seeing a website that has been set up to give a thin veneer of accountability (when in actual fact the petitions very rarely cause any change in policy - they just exist to give the impression they are listening) be used to send a very clear message to him.

Also, now it is top, the attendant publicity will doubtless increase the numbers registering their details and whilst he might be able to bat away 28,000 or 30,000, it will be a lot harder to do that if if reaches 500,000 or a million which is certainly possible.

Kalvis Jansons said...

Again a good post! It all worked out very well for Stage I. I am having a few days rest before Stage II. :)

Mark Thompson said...

Intriguing Kalvis. I look forward to hearing more!

Kalvis Jansons said...

This is a 6 month petition, rather than the more normal 12 month. So, it is harder to break the record for the largest petition ever on Number 10. However, we effective blogging and the very early article in http://theregister.co.uk with title "Go, Brown, Go!", we were off to a fast start. I am working on increasing the rate of growth in the near future, and others are doing it in their way as well.

So, we are still in with a good chance of making this break all the Number 10 petition records. Your blog also helps in this, so keep up the good work.

Others seeing this can help, if they have digg.com accounts, by digging anything on the "Please go" petition on digg. We will reach some new people when we get on the digg.com front page, which should be soon, with a little help.

Also, we have not been on the 10:00 TV news yet. This will provide a big boost, and I am working on that, though any help would be welcome. Note, I am not trying to get on the TV, I want the story and URL mentioned on the TV.

Anyone with ideas, please post them on 10.kalvis.comThis is better than emailing me, as many others are helping and I can direct them to that site as well. Again this will speed things up a bit.