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Gordon Brown has said he is stepping down as Labour Party leader Misleading headline

• protothomas 17y ago
  in September at that...
• foldr 17y ago
  It's not misleading. If he isn't leader of the labor party, he can't possibly have the support in the house of commons necessary to remain Prime Minister. Although there is technically a distinction between resigning as Prime Minister and resigning as leader of the Labour party, the latter pretty much implies the former.
  • philwelch 17y ago
    As I understand, if he resigned as PM he would in effect concede the government and it would be up to the Tories to form a minority or coalition government. Instead he is resigning as Labour leader (effective September) so his party can form a coalition government with Lib Dems. Evidently, he is even remaining PM under the new government, but only until a new Labour leader is chosen.
    • foldr 17y ago
      Yes, so in other words he's stepping down as PM, just not for the next few months.
      • philwelch 17y ago
        Correct. But one interpretation of "Brown steps down" or "Brown resigns" would be "Brown resigns as PM" and hence, "Brown to concede election to Tories", when the real story is "Brown to step down from Labour leadership in September in bid for coalition with Lib Dems". So the headline is in fact misleading, or at least ambiguous.