Hain quits Cabinet

Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Hain quits Cabinet

By Stephen Tall | Thu 24th January 2008 - 1:08 pm

Follow @stephentall

That’s the big news this Thursday lunchtime:

Peter Hain has quit the Cabinet after his deputy leader campaign donations were referred to the Met Police. Mr Hain, work and pensions secretary and Wales secretary, said he had stood down so he could “clear my name”.

He quit within minutes of the Electoral Commission saying that it had decided to refer the late declaration of £103,000 of donations to the police.

Peter Hain’s Lib Dem shadow, Danny Alexander, has responded quickly to the news, commenting:

“The transition from Blair to Brown feels increasingly like the transition from Thatcher to Major. We have had the return of government incompetence, economic turmoil and political sleaze.

“We all remember John Major clinging on to ministerial colleagues, only to lose them in the end, and now Gordon Brown is doing the same.

“His colleagues are being caught out by allegations of self-interest and complacency. The difference is that it took Major almost two years to lose his first cabinet colleague. Gordon Brown has lost Peter Hain after just six months.”

Read more by Stephen Tall .
This entry was posted in News.

Advert

One Comment

Dom 24th Jan '08 - 5:41pm

Paul Murphy for Wales will really stir things up. He is widely seen as anti-devolution, and the decision is likely to upset some Labour AMs and more so their Government colleagues in Plaid Cymru.

Interesting times.

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

Website

Comment

Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Most Read

Op-eds

Mathew on Monday: “We need to be bold” (Mathew Hulbert)
As a party we must be better defined for the 2029 general election (Chris Bowers)
From national averages to local realities: inequality in our communities (Tom Walker)
We do have a two tier system, Part 2 (Neil Hickman)
A Federal Britain: 3. Fiscal Federalism and a complete constitutional settlement (Iain Donaldson)

Advert

Recent Comments

Mick Taylor
It is NOT a review of policy. It's a review of strategy, under section 5.1 of the constitution. We have enough policy to fill the British Library. The problems ...
expats
@ Tom Walker, “Economic decline, Conservative austerity and misguided government policy have all been blamed for worsening inequality in the UK”.... Our ...
Matt (Bristol)
I think your left/centre-left 'anti-system' bloc still breaks down into activists who are 'recognise the spirit of the system, just want it to work better and b...
Matt (Bristol)
I mean ... 'radical' is an attractive to many people across the centre-left of politics, but your 'radical' is my 'unprove / unwise leap in the dark' and many m...
Kira Collins
“ and will perhaps attract votes in other areas that could deprive Reform or the Conservatives of vital votes that keep their total number of MPs down?’” ...