[Apothos]

We vote for the party, and the party members vote for the leader - Gordon Brown won't necessarily take over, there'll be a leadership conteset within the Labour party at some point to decide who does.

Tony Blair wasn't really forced out, he's just been forced to say when as he had foolishly mentioned that he intended to leave the job just after (i think) the last election, and some members of his party think that it puts him (and them) in a weak position - which is ironic, since that is why he didn't want to say when in the first place. They want him to quit sooner rather than later so the new leader has time to prove himself for the next election, probably because they see David Cameron as more of a threat than the last few Conservative leaders.