Mr Bean seems to be coming under more pressure from within his own party with some saying that ‘concern’ about his leadership was widespread in the Government.
Regarded by many as an incompetent Chancellor and an even worse Prime Minister, Mr Bean does of course have the distinct disadvantage of not having been voted in as leader by the electorate, rather foisted upon an unsuspecting public following the resignation of Tony Blair.
The Labour Party was duly and fairly elected to govern with Tony Blair at the helm, like him or not, agree with his policies or not.
There is maybe a case for considering a scenario whereby, if an incumbent Prime Minister resigns of his own volition before the end of his official term of office, a general election should be called – a sort of vote of confidence/approval – within a certain (short) period of time, say 4 weeks.
In the unfortunate event of a Prime Minister expiring before the end of his official term, this could maybe be extended to 8 weeks.
The latest blow to Mr Bean is the resignation of a senior minister, Scottish Office Minister David Cairns, who walked out after refusing to make an oath of loyalty to the Prime Minister. It is also rumoured that a Cabinet minister may well resign.
But there are still many who, at least for the moment, steadfastly supporting Mr Bean. The best line, though, has to be from Deputy leader Harriet Harman who apparently said Britain needed a leader ‘with immense economic experience’. So where is she going to start looking??