Hewitt and Hoon Coup

Let me be cruel, not unnatural;



I will speak daggers to her, but use none. (Hamlet, Act III, scene ii).

Today's attempt by Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt to force a secret ballot on the Labour Party leadership was not only unconstitutional within the Labour Party, it signified the tragic third act of the coup that never was.

Since the death of the Prince of Downing Street, Anthony Blair, Hamlet has procrastinated over taking vengeance on the King, Gordon Brown.

They've even had visions of John Hutton but alas inactivity still speaks loudest.

This whole wretched play will become political folklore but the question may always remain - who is Hamlet?

The answer lies in the above quote, I will speak daggers to her but use none.

Todays coup was nothing more than a play, an act by mechanicals to serve the whims of a Cabinet frozen by their collective failure.

Just like in the movie, Spartacus, each Cabinet member should rise and say: I am Hamlet.

For Milliband, Straw, Harman, Johnson and the other Cabinet would-be plotters know the old King cannot hold on to his throne but they have been unable to act.

The result is that for all their work over the past 12 years, they will be forever remembered as being the lame duck Cabinet that allowed the Tories to return to power and didn't have the guts to do what was neccessary.

As Shakespeare said,

The rest is silence.