Monday, April 27, 2009

Stand Up If You Want Brown to Resign

This blog doesn't do Number Ten Petitions. But if it did, it would urge you to sign this one...

WE CALL ON THE PRIME MINISTER TO RESIGN

This was launched today on the Number Ten site. It's only got 870 signatures at the moment. Sign up and then spread the word.

UPDATE Mon 9.20am: The petition has so far reached 10,000 and was mentioned on the Today programme headlines this morning. If you haven't already done so, please sign it and forward details to your friends. If you have a blog, provide a link to the petition.

Health warning: The mention of one Number Ten petition on this blog should not imply any willingness to promote others!

66 comments:

Barnacle Bill said...

Petition?
You want to sign up a mad rabid mob to storm No. 10 and haul Broon off to the nearest lamp post.
The Italians had the right idea on 25th of July, 1943.

Shamik Das said...

I kid you not, Kalvis Jansons was a lecturer of mine at university; first year maths back in the day!

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/math/staff/KMJ.htmlIt's a funny old world!!

Anonymous said...

Iain, do you seriously believe that signing up to a 10 Downing Street website petition is going to make one iota of difference?

You could have 60 million signatures and nothing would change.

Ollie Cromwell said...

It's got 977 now. Including mine, thanks.

Andrew K said...

Guido is (unusually) running with it too, so it stands a chance of going somewhere.

Jon Lishman said...

I've signed up and I wasn't 'into' campaigns at all until it became clear to me just how dangerous Brown and this version of Labour really are.

btw, anyone who has a little blog like me might like to include this thing that I found on Anna Raccoon:

http://houseofcomments.co.uk/

Just go through the motion, so to speak, to find the html.

I wear mine with pride!

Marian said...

Should Brown resign? YES of course he should - but he won't go unless he is pushed from within the Labour Party who appear to be caught like a rabbit in the headlights of the onrushing economic catastophe that is engulfing the UK courtesy of Brown's economic incompetence.

History shows that every time we have had a Labour government their term in office has ended with a monumental economic crisis due to their economic mismanagement of the UK economy - it happened in 1951 after Attlee and again in 1979 after Callaghan and now here we go again under Brown.

Those around at the time will recall that the Tories claimed at the 1997 general election that a Labour government of the UK would end in higher taxes due to their chronic propensity to "spend spend spend" as if there was going to be no tomorrow. At that time Blair and Brown said that would not happen as Labour had changed and would behave responsibly. Millions of voters were taken in and we got a so called “New” Labour government that did behave “prudently” for their first few years before their old habits caught up with them and their "spend spend spend" started again.

Put quite simply the trouble was that Labour ignored the first rule of housekeeping which is not to spend more than your income allows. This is the reason why the UK is in far worse economic shape than the rest of the G20 countries. Brown borrowed heavily during the good economic years to fund his extravagant life style policies and now we the people are paying the price. Other countries put money aside for a rainy day but Brown didn't, and so here we are with an economic mill stone around our necks for at least the next 10 years.

We can only hope and trust that this time UK voters will learn this hard lesson from history and consign Labour to the dustbin of history forever whenever the next UK general election comes.

Anonymous said...

Still at 977 and not changed for a while, also no email to confirm - has it been stopped?

crimeficreader said...

I'd prefer a vote of no confidence and a general election.

Anonymous said...

Only if you guarantee that Cheryl Gillian wont be Secretary of State for Wales ............. brrrrrr shivering

crimeficreader said...

And I don't trust them with my data either. Call me paranoid...

Tony_E said...

My name has been added. The 977 figure is quite seriously out of date though as many on Guido have signed since that figure but the petition takes time to show the new names and increase in numbers.

It won't change anything, but it will give me some satisfaction to know that the PM will now be in no doubt as to my discontent.

How long until the numbers get so high that No10 has to find a way to nobble this?

Mark Thompson said...

Yep, already signed it. Good to see you and Guido pushing it too. We might get an embarrasingly high number. It would be good if it could go to the top of the charts.

It needs about 28,000 signatures to beat the current top one (on RNLI license fees).

Surely we can do better than that? There must be more than that many people who want him to go!?

Anonymous said...

Brown is so dreadful that, assuming you want the Conservatives to win the next election, its probably best that he stays put.

Ashley

Silent Hunter said...

Do you really want to 'voluntarily' give the government your e-mail address, your home address, your telephone number etc?

I would love to sign a 'no confidence vote' petition against the mad Broon in the Downing Street Bunker, but I would prefer to do it at a NON Government site.

I don't trust the Government as far as I could throw Damian McBride LOL and he's an ENORMOUS git.

ukipwebmaster said...

What's going on here?
Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have regained their lead over David Cameron and George Osborne as the team most trusted on the economy, in a Daily Politics poll.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/default.stm

yellowbelly said...

Waste of time. I signed a previous one and all I got back was some clap-trap about how Gordon was doing all he could to help hard-working families in these troubled times, yadda, yadda, yadda, and thank you for your interest.

Anonymous said...

YES, but what will they do with the email addresses ?

Brian said...

Unless you have the signature of J G Brown the petition is worth the same as a manifesto promise.

Daily Referendum said...

Almost doubled in one hour. Will put on my blog when I get home. Every little helps.

rob's uncle said...

1741 hrs: Guido is down.

Anonymous said...

"Iain Dale 4:42 PM

This blog doesn't do Number Ten Petitions. But if it did, it would urge you to sign this one"
............

lol i like it. Okay i have signed it and its now up to 1,120

Lord Wallington said...

GORDON MUST GO.

I have signed and forwarded a link to all my contacts.

Daedalus said...

I picked up on this off the Register website http://www.theregister.co.uk/ this afternoon I think I was 167 but it was only up to 122 when I started the process. Let’s hope it has legs, very long ones, in 7 league boots. I know he won't go but every time another name goes on I can see him grimacing, well worth the mental image. Maybe they need to bolt down the laser printers.

Lord Wallington said...

GORDON MUST GO.

I have signed and forwarded a link to all my contacts

jaydeeaitch said...

Count went up by 20 between me posting my name and replying to the confirmation email, about 20 seconds. Silent Hunter, your commitment please after all those cries for election on CiF.

Mirtha Tidville said...

I`ve signed it, and sure it wont bring about his immediate downfall, but it sure as hell might irrate him, so its well worth doing...

Sign up

Plenty said...

Iain and the Tory bloggers might want to read this excellent letter that I found a couple of weeks ago and wrote on my blog and a citizen journalism site The-Latest.com

In my opinion, it is a fantastic and well written piece which illustrates exactly what Brown has failed on.

http://www.katirai.com

MANTEX said...

Surely this is some sort of spoof?

If you go to the Number10 site, I can't find any way to locate the petition page

and yet the URL LOOKS genuine if you go to it from the link on Iain's site

anyone know how it's done?

Hawkeye said...

A petition to get rid of Brown? No good.

He needs arresting and dragging to The Hague's ICC in chains and to be charged with "willful neglect of a successful country".

His sentence, when found guilty, will be to repair Nokias mistreated by their owners who hurled them at employees and walls.

crimeficreader said...

Perhaps it ought to be on another independent site with an embedded YouTube and advertised as "Sign for Gordon Brown to resign while listening to Susan Boyle sing".

Weygand said...

Wonderful - I can see many mobile phones being thrown as the total of signatures rises inexorably day by day.

Will become a cause célèbre

As for those pathetic creatures afraid to supply address and email to the site - words fail me.

Anyway don't you know that MI6 will already have recorded your post on this site - expect a knock on the door before daybreak.

Victor, NW Kent said...

I won't sign it. I don't want Brown gone - I want Labour gone.

Brown is only the boil that manifests itself as a symptom of a deep disease.

Jimmy said...

"Guido is (unusually) running with it too,"

Quelle surprise.

Pam Nash said...

Just had a look at the names - Mc Bride, Blair, Mandelson and Draper. Fancy that! ;)

Rob said...

Up to 2800+ now. Shares in Nokia are beginning to rally!

Alan Douglas said...

Up to 2811 now.

Alan Douglas

Sentient WV :treashin

Rob said...

It's also on conservativehome now as well, if it get's mentioned on politicalbetting that'll be the grandslam of the blogosphere, and given the combined readership of all these blogs it has the potential to come up with a very humiliating figure.

Alan B'Stard said...

I signed in as Polly Toynbee, address,

carichi di denaro, Tuscany. Together with her Graun email.

So far, it has not appeared, but apparently, Polly will get an email confirmation and be offered products and services.

The Grim Reaper said...

Lord Iain of Sky News said: "This blog doesn't do Number Ten Petitions. But if it did, it would urge you to sign this one..."

This blog's author is about to hear from the lawyers at Carlsberg. :p

Anonymous said...

I wish folks would learn, it's only there to farm millions of email addresses.

I'll shout for Brown to resign from the pages of my own blog, but I refuse to hand over my email address to No. 10.

The Grim Reaper said...

Looking at the list, I notice that Adolf Hitler has also signed it.

No further comment.

Jen Something or Other said...

Sure, this petition will have no effect on Brown - except that he'll not be able to dispute that a massive number of people signed it.

More ammo, for us.

I've signed the petition and have waited hours, so far, for the activation email.

Jen Something or Other said...

Grim Reaper says:

"Looking at the list, I notice that Adolf Hitler has also signed it."

There's always a nutter in the bunch. Does that nullify the cause?

Anonymous said...

Funny that the signature count appears to have stopped at 4,361!!!

Silent Hunter said...

Jaydeeaitch!

Just for you - I have thrown caution to the wind and signed it! :o) Still waiting for the confirmation e-mail though.

And thanks for remembering me from the halcyon days at the Guardian.

You might like to see what my good friend Tiergarten has to say on Cif? ;o)

Keep well.

Major Plonquer said...

Nearly 5,000 signatures already. Faster momentum than even Hannan's YouTube speech uptake. It only takes a minute. Just do it. If enough people sign up this will become a story in itself and do Brown even more damage.

ALSO as an expat currently living in China I've decided to return to the UK as I've identified a part of the UK economy that will grow even through the recession. I'm setting up a new company to repair mobile phones and laser printers.

Silent Hunter said...

I see that 'Silent Hunter' has now appeared on the list of those petitioning for the removal of the Prime Munster; and just two places above me is "Ed Balls" LOL

JohnofEnfield said...

I don't think this petition is sufficiently vindictive by the standards set by New Labour.

I suggest we add something along these lines......
"....having been judged in the court of public opinion Gordon Brown should also be stripped of any pension rights which accrued whilst he was in ministerial office."

He can keep his knighthood, CH, OBE or whatever (dis)honours he sees fit to bestow on himself.

Anonymous said...

The Express and the Scotsman are on to it. I wonder how long it will take the rest of our dozy media to catch up with this one.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/97121/PM-embarrassed-online-

http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Resignation-appeal.5206536.jp

Rob said...

Now at 8,454 and counting. It's by far the fastest growing petition they have there and once people start spreading it when they go back to work tomorrow it'll really take off.

Constantly Furious said...

For f*ck's sake sign!

Even at 10,000+, there are nowhere near enough signatures

Summer said...

This poll has some odd behaviour - for a poll. I was writing a paper yesterday (Sunday) so I checked it evey half an hour. The count goes up on the hour and half hour. The results

Time Count Increase9.30am 8308
10.00am 8380 + 72
10.30am 8454 + 74
11.00am 8538 + 84
11.30am 8610 + 72
12 noon 8688 + 78
12.30pm 8774 + 86
1.00pm 8857 + 73
1.30pm 8912 + 55
2.00pm 8979 + 67
2.30pm 9036 + 57
3.00pm 9112 + 76
3.30pm 9174 + 62
4.00pm 9226 + 52
4.30pm 9318 + 92
6.00pm System down
6.30pm 9497 + 179
7.00pm 9582 + 85
7.30pm 9667 + 85
8.00pm 9750 + 83
8.30pm 9830 + 80
9.00pm 9914 + 84
9.30pm 9982 + 68

At Mon 8am the number is 10,697 which means on a similar patten that 34 people on average have signed the survey each half hour during the night!!

Do people usually sign on so regular a basis? I have been told by people who organized the Gurkha petition that Number 10 wiped off signatures.

Maybe the story isn't the number of people who want to see the back of Gordon, but the fact they cannot even be honest about a petition!!

Chris Paul said...

It had 800 on Thursday or Friday Iain. If you re-post something or re-date it wouldn't it be best to say you've done that? Clear from the comments, but misleading to the general reader, almost like hype, has the bunker think taken over?

2000 plus by Friday night I think, 5000 plus by Sunday tea. It is approximately doubling every 24 hours ...

As Shamik says the man is a mathematician - emeritus reader - and at a stretch "gaming" petitions would be within his research interests.

And as Summer says more recently the behaviour of this system is odd. Many of the names seemed a bit odd early doors as this gathered momentum, including some slogans etc but also lots of ones that look made up.

The fact it's building all night long and at a very steady pace doesn't seem like manipulation from Number 10 at all. The government are famously **** at IT projects after all.

But Jansons isn't!

50 Calibre said...

Whereas I think the 'Italian Solution', that of the lamp post and rope, would be a fitting end to this most awful of prime ministers, I don't think we should go all the way and give Mrs Broon some time to rehab herself after her dreadful mistake. Poor dear...

Anonymous said...

Having been involved with computer systems and traffic levels (call rates nothing to do with cars), I smelt a BIG RAT. The site is very strange, when you do a refresh it is very fast, indicating lots of spare capacity, but signatures have complained of slow response. Also calling patterns usually show a peak about 10 - 12am and then 1 - 3pm and then a lot lower during the night. When I saw this steady 300 every update per session over the pass few days, I immediately thought that this system is slugged. The same effect would be if signatures were thrown away and only a set rate put through. Anyway, would McGrim ever allow a system that could potentially be used against him, be allowed without a safeguard being put in place. In other words do you think Gordo is HONEST.

DespairingLiberal said...

Signed, it's over 15,000 now.

Thanks for broadcasting this Iain. I know it's best to keep these things simple, but it's a shame it doesn't add "and not be replaced by Harriet Harman".

DespairingLiberal said...

I don't see those effects on our testing tools Pete-S - looks pretty fast. The updates to the counters are periodic rather than continuous though - it doesn't update the counter each time you sign one. Probably there's some "checking" algorithm that attempts to remove multiple signings from the same IP or something running behind. I can imagine that being subtly "rigged" to allow admin intervention on really unpleasant petitions. But I suppose someone would leak that, so it's probably accurate.

Rosie said...

Just a note of caution - by all means sign the petition, but think what we might get instead. Could be a Miliband, Mandelson, Straw, Balls - or someone who might be popular enough to win next election!

Henry North London 2.0 said...

Now at over 17000

Henry North London 2.0 said...

http://www.twitpic.com/43oa3/full

Remember you saw it here

Rob said...

Should hit top 5 tomorrow morning and could nab the no.1 spot before Wednesday, before being taken down before thursday. Will it get a mention in the MSM? With McBride gone and the bunker in lockdown there is a possibility.

Rob said...

Henry North London said...

http://www.twitpic.com/43oa3/full

Remember you saw it here

God bless you, Your Majesty!

Anonymous said...

When I looked last night the total was up to 18,000. This morning it seems to have dropped to 13,000. Very strange..!

William Blakes Ghost said...

Iain,

Time for an update I think. It has passed 21,000. Now fifth on the current list.

Jonny Newton said...

Kalvis lectured me as well at UCL. An excellent lecturer I thought (with a short temper).