Labour 'is on the side of the voters'

[Grumpmeister]

Oh really Gordo? If you were truely on the side of the voters then there would be a removals van outside Number 10 you mealy mouthed berk. 

Gordon Brown has said Labour needs to show voters it is "on their side" and has the right policies for the future.

At a private meeting, the prime minister told Labour MPs "only Labour has the big ideas for the future".

The government has come in for criticism over various issues from Northern Rock to lost computer discs.

Meanwhile the BBC has learned that one MP, Jim Sheridan, said former ministers who criticise the government should be "injected with rabies".

The meeting comes ahead of local elections in England and Wales on 1 May. Some MPs raised concerns about the way post office closures were handled and taking on Lib Dems in local elections.

'Big ideas'

BBC chief political correspondent James Landale said the questions amounted to "something short of a whinge" - but said the prime minister's speech won him applause.

In a 15 minute speech, Mr Brown said the party needed to "show people that we are on their side and at their service" on issues.

  On the big issue, equipping people for skills, the Conservatives are on the wrong side of the argument

Gordon Brown

He said that "only Labour has the big ideas for the future" and said the government "owned the future" by taking tough decisions on energy, climate change and planning reform.

He said the Conservatives were promising unfunded spending plans and would cut Sure Start - an initiative aimed at tackling child poverty and helping families in poor areas - freeze the number of apprentices and would not commit to plans to make education compulsory up to the age of 18.

"On the big issue, equipping people for skills, the Conservatives are on the wrong side of the argument," Mr Brown said.

'Rabies' comment

Several Labour MPs told the BBC after the meeting that MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP Jim Sheridan had been critical of former Labour ministers who "gobbed off" to the newspapers and said they should be "injected with rabies".

They said Mr Sheridan did not refer to any former ministers by name but most assumed his remarks were directed at the former home secretary, Charles Clarke, who has made various criticisms in recent months.

Mr Sheridan refused to confirm or deny that he had made the remarks. "It was a private meeting about which I will make no comment," he said.

[Snoopy]

Clearly then we are in good hands when an MP can make such a sensible and considered comment. Honestly I've heard better wit and wisdom in the local playground ~ and that's a junior school.

[Nick]

MP, Jim Sheridan, said former ministers who criticise the government should be "injected with rabies"

A loyalist then!