Prime Minister Straw?

The Moai flagged this to me and asked the questions "What do you think? And, what about Jack vs Call-me-Dave?"

Well...

Jack Straw is not really a credible contender for leader. He was crippled and embarrassed by his demotion after the 2006 local elections. Sure, he has tried to push through Lords reform and sparked the whole debate on Muslim veils, but this is more him trying to hog the limelight rather than setting out a platform for being Prime Minister. And he has not aligned himself enough with Blair to be the Blairite candidate – we know Miliband, Milburn and Reid are all Blairite. We do not know who Straw supports – and if anyone is going to beat Brown it will be someone who can galvanise (rather than get grudging support from) the Blairites. It is not anyone bar Gordon for the Blairites – they know that person is David Cameron. It is someone who is more Blairite than Brown.

Straw v. Hug A Husky Cameron is more interesting. Straw is a more electable politician that the Dour Drip Brown, and could out perform Cameron in the Commons. However, whilst cartoonists have failed to be able to lampoon Cameron effectively, Straw will always be the Demon Headmaster to people. And he is very closely associated with Blair and the Iraq War – Brown has kept his distance from both, whereas Straw has not really turned against Blair even after his humiliating demotion from Foreign Secretary.

I still fear it will be Prime Minister Brown...