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Gordon Brown- The Final Days
Gordon Brown looks defeated. He's grey, he slumps. Even though there's little physical resemblance- beyond the jowliness- he reminds me of Richard Nixon in the final phase. When he's not slumping, he's floating around with that terrible, unreal grin on his face. I don't know which is worse- Gordon as Nixon or Gordon the bob-bob-bobbing balloon.
The incident with the woman in Rochdale didn't have to be as bad as it was. A quick apology- yes I'm a grouchy old bear, so sue me- might have got him off the hook. He didn't have to go to her house and stay there for three quarters of an hour while the world's media filmed the front door. First he was snarly, then he was abject. At no point did he look like a man who might be entrusted with the running of a country.
There had been complaints that Gordon wasn't getting out and pressing enough flesh. They should have been resisted. He doesn't have people skills- and a disaster like this was always on the cards. In one of the TV debates- knowing he'd never match Cameron and Clegg for charm- he insisted that an election wasn't a beauty contest. If only he and his aides had stuck to that line. Is the British electorate really so infantile it can't see beyond the mask? The outstanding British prime minister of the past fifty years- Mrs Thatcher- was arrogant, humourless, charmless, altogether unlovely- and it didn't matter. What she had was strength of purpose. Gordon could have been marketed on his strength of purpose too. He's rude, he's awkward, you wouldn't want to ask him round for tea, but he understands the economy and he gets things done. Ah well, it's too late now. And maybe the marketing of him as a strong man would also have been a lie.
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I think the damage has been done- and nothing any opponent can say will make things worse. I don't see how Brown can repair his image at this point.
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I'm wondering what would happen if the Tories had the most seats, some way short of a majority, but the LibDems and Labour were prepared to go into coalition. Whom would the queen ask to form a government?
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It looks as though Nick Clegg would demand the sacking of Gordon Brown as the price of a Lab-Lib coaltion. So who would be PM? Alan Johnson, perhaps.
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I live in a very similar constituency- former northern mill town, impoverished, lots of Asians- and the Tories don't have a prayer.
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GB has lived in Islington (or wherever it is) for far too long.
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So do I, but I fear she's right. One word sums up the sudden turn towards knee-jerk, dog-whistle populism - and that word is "Murdoch".
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Still is. Paul Rowen defeated the appalling Lorna Fitzsimons, another lousy warmongering ex-NUS president like Woolas, in 2005. Technically it's now a "nominally Labour-held" seat owing to boundary changes; it won't be held by them next Friday, nominally or otherwise.
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"If we all had recordings of what we mutter under our breath we'd all be crimson with embarrassment."
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Morally - also the right thing to say. Yes, Brown said something stupid. Can we move on now?
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"At no point did he look like a man who might be entrusted with the running of a country."
How many previous PMs would have met that criterion if they'd been subjected to the same trial by televison, and the modern style of press coverage) as in the past 50 years?
With the hindsight of subsequent knowledge through actions whike PM and other people's reminscences, I can't think of a single one
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But is Brown really under so much more scrutiny than Mrs Thatcher was- or John Major? I detested Mrs T, but she retained control of her image because- fundamentally- she was a strong person- and she wasn't pretending to be nice. The faults- which were considerable- were on open display- and we still elected her.
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However, I still don't think that the analogy holds.
1. I'm fairly sure that she got votes from "flomem who might not have liked her much but wanted to see a woman there (I know for sure that there were Liberals who thought lie
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"floaters who might not like her much but wanted to see a wona ther I know for sure that we lost quite a few former Liberals over that
2. i admit that I didn't own a TV then - but i don't remember that the coverage then was so personaly intrusive and vindictive as it has been over the past weeks
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Look at Italy. Berlusconi is unspeakable, but the people keep voting him in because, whatever else you can say about him, he's colourful- and utterly shameless.
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That's where weare heading
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Mind you, it helps that he owns most of the media.
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He's a combination of Rupert Murdoch, Hugh Hefner and Roy Hudd.
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On being asked "Prime Minister, do you have a comment for the press?" he simply replied "No." and walked onwards.
There are times that I wish one of the current crop had that attitude.
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"presentation ---is a feature that has been imported into British politics since Thatcher realized the importance of voice-coaching and threw away her hats
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You're destroying my illusions here. I thought it was only Americans that fell for that particular smoke and mirror.
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