Labour Party Leadership......Contest?
Written & Published: 17th March 2007
Update 17th May 2007: Due to the events of the past few days there is little point updating this article further. It will remain online as of interest.
Will there... won't there... will there... won't there...? Be a contest, that is. Or will it be a 'coronation' of Gordon Brown following Tony Blair's promised resignation? Or will Blair stay after all?
Instead of getting lost in the Labour Party's lingering, protracted demise, we can examine the charts of the people who have already announced their desire to lead the Labour Party: Gordon Brown, John McDonnell, and Michael Meacher.
Other possible contenders are David Miliband - thought to be Blair's favourite, described by John McDonnell as 'son of Blair' - John Reid, Charles Clarke, Alan Milburn, and possibly Jack Straw.
For the Deputy Leader position six MPs have already confirmed that they want the job, thereby ruling themselves out of the running for Party Leader: Hilary Benn, Hazel Blears, Jon Cruddas, Alan Johnson, Peter Hain, Harriet Harman.
Labour Party's chart
The chart for the Labour Party itself has no known birth time and so it's not possible to know the important Ascendant, Midheaven, and other house cusps, or the exact position of the Moon. Here's the chart:
The same cautionary note applies to most of the MPs discussed in this article, which places an important restriction on our ability to get a clear view of the potential for party leadership. However, we'll do our best with the information we've got.
Contenders for Leader of the Labour Party
Confirmed contenders as at 26th March 2007:
Gordon Brown
John McDonnell
Michael Meacher
Gordon Brown
Gordon's leadership potential has been written about elsewhere on this site (see 'further reading' links at the foot of this article). Whilst he does have links with the Labour Party's chart conducive to leadership, they are not as strong as Blair's. Brown's 2007 transits suggest that if he does manage to grasp power, it is likely to be a disappointing, frustrating experience for him, rather than the long-hoped for pinnacle of achievement that he desires.
John McDonnell
John's Pluto is almost exact to the minute conjunct Labour's nodal axis, echoing Blair's. In fact, his Pluto connects closely with Labour's Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Pluto. These are all 'power' connections, but they're shared by everyone born the same year and so need to be backed up by individual connections. Unfortunately for John his Sun has no aspects connecting it with the party's chart. On the plus side his Sun is on the party's Sun/Mars midpoint and his Saturn is on the party's Mars/Aries point midpoint. Further reinforcements are provided by John's Moon being on or close to shared midpoints involving the Sun and Mars.
Michael Meacher
Michael's Mars is conjunct Labour's nodal axis and its Sun, and in semisquare to the party's Mars. His Pluto is trine the party's Mars too, and his nodal axis is conjunct his shared Jupiter midpoint with party. All this puts him approximately on a par with John McDonnell's chart connections with the Labour Party - or perhaps slightly ahead - but, on balance, his chart connections for leadership are not as strong as Gordon Brown's.
Possible contenders the media are currently speculating about:
At the time of writing Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn have combined to produce a website which some media say is regarded as an 'attempt to flush out a Blairite' to block Gordon Brown's bid to become leader.
Charles Clarke
Charles has a moderate number of leadership-type connections between his chart and the Labour Party's chart. He also has some tense connections that could be problematical.
Alan Milburn
Alan's chart was written about on this website before, but not in the context of a potential leadership bid. In this context, Alan has some very strong connections that would support any bid he might launch. Astrologically-speaking, he has aspects, midpoints, and shared midpoints which make a considerably strong case for him being a contender to watch carefully.
David Miliband
David has very strong leadership connections between his chart and the Labour Party's chart. His synastry with Blair also suggest an easy 'handover' and the likelihood that Blair would see David as 'the next generation'. His chart connections also confirm his established reputation as Labour's thinker and ideas man, and although he lacks Saturn connections with the Labour chart there are nevertheless plenty of other leadership-type aspects and midpoints that definitely make him one to watch very closely indeed.
John Reid
John has some very strong connections pertaining to leadership potential within Labour, however he also has strong undermining connections that would very probably work against any bid he might make and jeopardise his success and/or satisfaction. Astrologically-speaking, he is still one to keep an eye on.
Jack Straw - note 26th March '07: Jack has announced that he will run Gordon Brown's leadership campaign, thereby ruling himself out of the contest
Jack has a number of strong connections with the Labour Party's chart denoting the potential for leadership, however he also has some undermining connections that reduce the likelihood of him being seen as a leader by the party.
Contenders for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
These might be written about at a later date but for reasons of time they are not being written about at the moment.
Confirmed contenders as at 17th March 2007:
Alan Johnson
Peter Hain
Hilary Benn
Harriet Harman
Jon Cruddas
Hazel Blears
Further reading:
Gordon Brown - article on this website written in 2004
click here to read it
Tony, Gordon, & Labour - section of Saturn/Neptune article on this website written in May 2006
click here to read it
Gordon's Leadership - entry on blog written in October 2006
click here to read it
Labour Party Meltdown - entry on blog written in October 2006
click here to read it
Blair's Departure - entry on blog written in October 2006
click here to read it
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