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Marie Woolf and Jon Ungoed-Thomas
June 29, 2008
Times
Gordon Brown's leadership faced a new
crisis this weekend as some of Labour’s biggest financial
backers said he was not up to the job and had botched
the handling of the credit crunch.
Key donors who bankrolled new Labour
are now reluctant to support Brown, claiming he lacks
the qualities required to salvage the party’s fortunes.
— The millionaire businessman Sir Maurice
Hatter, who has donated more than £176,000 to the party
since 2001, said it was time for a change of leader.
“He hasn’t got the charisma,” he said.
“He was a good number two, but he is not a number one.
I just don’t think he is a prime minister.”
— Sir Christopher Ondaatje, the author
and businessman, who has donated £1.6m, said Brown had
taken a “very dangerous road” in bailing out Northern
Rock with public funds.
— Sir Gerry Robinson, a donor and former
chairman of Granada TV and Allied Domecq, was scathing
about Brown’s inability to delegate: “You can’t run
a family like that, let alone the country.”
— Bill Kenwright, chairman of Everton
football club, who has given £255,000, said the government
had suffered an “energy bypass” and the leadership needed
a “quantum change”.
The rest of the article may be read
here: Times
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