UK NEWS
RUTH KELLY QUITS ONLY HOURS AFTER BROWN'S DESPERATE REVIVAL SPEECH
BOWING OUT: Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly announced she will step down at the next reshuffle
Wednesday September 24,2008
By Emily Garnham for express.co.uk
TRANSPORT Secretary Ruth Kelly has announced she will quit Gordon Brown’s Cabinet - only hours after the PM delivered his make-or-break speech in a bid to revive the beleaguered Labour Party.
Announcing her decision to step down at the next reshuffle, the 40-year-old mother-of-four insisted the move was “purely a decision that has been taken for family reasons" - so she can spend more time with her children.
But it has fuelled speculation the Bolton West MP disagrees with fundamental party values.
Despite the bizarre timing of her announcement – which was only hours after the PM’s keynote speech – Brown insisted her choice was “nothing to do with politics” and claimed she told him of her plan to quit in May.
He added: “She has been an MP for 11 years. All the time that her children were growing up, she was carrying out her job as minister and juggling with work and family life.
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Ms Kelly is applauded by the PM and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn
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“It is a very personal story and I do understand as a father myself that there are difficult decisions we have to take.”
But observers believe Ms Kelly – who is a devout
Catholic – has bowed out of politics due to strong objections towards the controversial Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Bill.
In her speech to Labour MPs in Manchester, Ms Kelly said: “As well as a frontline politician, I'm also proud to be a mother and a wife.
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I really think we have the chance to build on the foundations we have made and continue to make this country better.
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“To have been able to hold these jobs, I've relied on the support of my husband and my family.
"So I ask for your understanding when I say that I now owe it to my children and family to take a step back and start putting them first.
"If I do not, then I know that this is something I will come to regret deeply."
Ms Kelly, whose children are all under the age of 11, said she would continue to support Labour in future.
“I think the Labour Government has started to transform Britain over the last 11 years,” she added.
“I have been really honoured to be able to be part of that record and these achievements.
“I really think we have the chance to build on the foundations we have made and continue to make this country better.”
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The Bolton West MP with husband Derek Gadd
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Asked for her views on the Prime Minister, she said: “I can’t think of anyone better than Gordon Brown - a towering figure in the Labour Party - to be going abroad and arguing on the world stage for the sort of reforms we need to make our own economy stronger - but also to put in place the framework we need at the moment to create stability among the financial turmoil.”
Mr Brown is widely expected to reshuffle his Cabinet at the end of next week – although he refused to be drawn into questions on timing.
When asked about rumours of more ministerial resignations in the offing, Mr Brown responded: “That’s not true at all.”
KELLY WHO??....................
25.09.08, 7:51am
.........Ruth Kelly was an ineffectual, anonymous, expensive waste of space. What has she done as a 'tranpsort' minister that was so memorable??..............NOTHING!!
Just another vastly overpaid whining socialist with questionable underlying religious motivations. She won't be missed.
• Posted by: moorlok • Report Comment
DO YOU THINK MICKY MOUSE BROWN THREATENED TO CUT HER BALLS OFF IF SHE CAME CLEAN WITH THE TRUTH?
24.09.08, 11:40pm
Well what can I say this pathetic excuse of a prime minister must have threatened to cut her balls off so that she would have to be a women...how frightening!
Don't trust anything about this poor excuse of a prime minister and his pathetic party...
they have trashed this country and harmed the british citizen in all the way this party can...I know first hand of this parties discriminatory stance against the british english person...
truthfully can anyone really trust what complete diarrohea pours out of this mans mouth or his cabinets...it is a systemic conspiracy by this party to anialate this country and its people and I mean english person!
• Posted by: RealIstic08 • Report Comment
RUTH KELLY QUITS
24.09.08, 9:40pm
I dont think Ruth Kelly will be missed, she didnt make such a great Transport minister.
But..God save this country from the Tories!!!!!!!!!!!!
After the destruction wrought by Thatcher and her henchmen and the ineptitude of John Major, who thought cricket was more important than running the country...Labour cant possibly be as bad.
David Cameron, he of the fake bike rides and the golden spoon in the simpering mouth, has no concept of the real life of the working men and women of this country...how can he? Born into a life of luxury and pampering..he has no idea of reality.
Life under the Tories again doesnt bear thinking about...dont say you havent been warned.
• Posted by: Gilli • Report Comment
FOR ONCE I AGREE WITH HER
24.09.08, 9:19pm
Labour have changed Britain over the last 11 years - unfortunately not for the better. If she wanted to spend that much time her children she wouldn't have become an MP in the first place.
• Posted by: Oldgit • Report Comment
DOMINO EFFECT.....
24.09.08, 8:12pm
One domino fell and all the rest went with it....hope its a quick game..!!!
• Posted by: cocklesandeels • Report Comment
RUTH KELLY QUITS
24.09.08, 7:44pm
She hasn't done this at this particular time for nothing. I would think she's doing her former lover a favour and taking one for the team, if only to cause maximum embarrassment for the hapless and hopeless Brown.
I shouldn't think either a) that she will be missed; or b) that she will be away for long. Miliband will will recall her to his shadow cabinet when the mist clears after the next election.
I don't think that politics will miss this strange creature, with her unnaturally scary voice, and her adhernce to the weird Opus Dei sect. Perhaps she will spend some of her free time with Saint Tony, now that he is writing books with titles such as 'Faith and Globalization'?
• Posted by: saracen • Report Comment
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