Gordon Brown- The Final Days

[poliphilo]

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.

Comments

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Sorry - not sure what happemed then -
"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

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think one thing that's changed is that the politicians are now much more afraid of the media than they used to be- which has led to an overall blandness and shying away from controversy. I suspect they've got it wholly wrong- and a leader who didn't give a damn about image- and who came across as natural and unspun- would sweep the board.

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.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Are you sure that's why? Mightn't it be that the alternatives might be non-existent or worse?
That's where weare heading

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My impression is that Italian politicians are a pretty dull lot- apart from Berlusconi.

Mind you, it helps that he owns most of the media.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Now you tell me? Nothing to do with being colourful, then!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's both.

He's a combination of Rupert Murdoch, Hugh Hefner and Roy Hudd.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

There's a story of one of the 'tween-war Prime Ministers - my mind wants to say Chamberlain, but I can't find the actual quote - who was stopped by the press as he came off the plane from some important conference or other.

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.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've seen that. It was captured on film. I'm almost certain it was Clem Attlee.