Tuesday, June 09, 2009

 

Brown's Survival Helps Nobody Much-Byers Sums it Up

So he made it, as I thought the political logic dictated he must. With so much advance hype the rebels put up a poor show: only five spoke against him and received no support. When he has been so poor politically at leading the government, why? Simple really. It was a mixture of the rebels' lack of organisation, Gordon's battle hardened Praetorian Guard led by Mandelson and the realisation by MPs that their best hopes had attenuated to no more than mere survival until May 2010. I said he has been poor politically as his handling of the economy in crisis has possibly(time will tell) been adept.

Andrew Rawnsley's Despatches last night revealed how Gordon probably saved our banking system and provided a remedial template for the rest of the world seeking salvation from the credit crisis. History might well allow him a special place for this, and the impeturbable Darling too. The problem is the mass of voters were unaware of this at the time and Brown did not receive any proper credit. More attention was given to the McBride revelations: evidence of Brown's ruthless and thuggish political style which has alienated so many in the PLP.

I was taken to task by my old sparring partner Bob Piper yesterday for apparently contradicting my Saturday post- which he took to be pro Brown- with yesterday's, which was not. I was clearly failing in my own attempts to communicate as I intended in the former to guess how things were going to turn out; in the latter I was doing the same but indicating what my feelings were about that outcome. I think Stephen Byers summed it up well for me with his comment last night:

"We all knew that under Michael Foot we were heading for defeat but we did nothing about it, Labour loyalty blinded us from the harsh electoral reality of certain defeat. After the 1983 election we had a further 14 years of Tory rule with devastating consequences for millions of citizens. We must not repeat this mistake again."

Comments:
Watch and wait.

If Brown is to be ditched, the time to do it is not now but early in the New Year so that the election can be in June rather than November.

By keeping the options open, the coming six months can be used to see if he improves his communication skills so that they complement his political ones.

Be patient...
 
Hughesey
Don't matter how pateint we are, Gordon will never cnahge his spots. People over 50 find it very hard to change or to acquire skills which have eleuded them hitherto.
 
Hughesey(grammatically more correct version!)
Don't matter how patient we are, Gordon will never change his spots. People over 50 find it very hard to acquire skills which have eluded them hitherto.
 
Speak for yourself! My skill set increases daily...

And don't overlook the election timing issue.
 
"Gordon probably saved our banking system and provided a remedial template for the rest of the world seeking salvation from the credit crisis."

I think the real reason he didn't receive much credit for that is that the duff regulatory system he set up and failed to police properly was largely blamed by both insiders and the media for causing the crisis in the first place. Just as the Tories gained no credit for abolishing the Poll Tax that they had introduced themselves.

My guess is that history will "allow him a special place" for the bailout only if it decides this criticism to be invalid. Cue comparisons with America (two banks go bust) Canada (0) and Australia (0). If the last two are judged to have got through by blind luck, maybe Gordon Brown's reputation will be restored by posterity.
 
Agreed(with above) that Brown's actions re: the banking system did nothing to help. Indeed he fiddled while Rome burned. Ten years at number eleven, doing nothing as debt levels shot out of control. Few people predicted the nature of this crisis, but even Joe Public realised debt levels were unsustainable. If Brown has done anything to help the UK economy(and the jury is still well out on that) it matters not. Arsonists who extinguish fires after they have burnt down half the house do not have their sentences commuted.

Politically he is done. Only the most myopic of half-wits(and it seems there are a few) think otherwise. If Labour wish to stick with him, in light of results worse than the imagination can behold, then they are fools. A change now(and Johnson is well thought of, inspite of my reservations) would at least throw the spotlight on to Cameron. And the Tories really don't want that to happen. As it is, Brown will get slaughtered next summer, blamed for many things that he is responsible for and many things that he is not. Let it be.

As someone who wishes for a Conservative victory, I can only say that the events of the last two weeks could simply not have been better. Brown got rejected by the public(quelle surprise, we never asked for him in the first place), his party divided and damaged itself. And then just when they were about to fix the problem, they stick with the great clod. Seriously, thank you.
 
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