Brown rage
James Forsyth 1:03pm
Martin Bright sheds light on what Brown’s inner circle are thinking about an early election in this week’s New Statesman. What stands out, though, is how thin-skinned they are.
Danny Finkelstein’s story about the influence of Bob Shrum on his conference speech has clearly got under their skin. One aide tells Bright that, "The behaviour of the Tories and some sections of the media shows they are already electioneering. Why should Gordon put up with another six months of this when he can't fight back?"
Also note how Camilla Cavendish reveals in The Times this morning that, “The Prime Minister’s penchant for calling certain journalists in the early hours of the morning and taking them to task does not look terribly prime ministerial.”
Brown also appears to think that the Tories spent their conference engaging in a highly personal assault on his character. Bright reports that, "At times since the Labour conference, the PM has been in a state of barely controlled fury. I am told this grew to a crescendo during the conference speech by the shadow defence spokes man, Liam Fox. If Britain does go to the polls, the following passage may turn out to be the tipping point: "You, Prime Minister - in your self-indulgent, plagiarised, 67-minute speech, how much did you dedicate to Iraq, Afghanistan and our armed forces? One hundred and twenty-six words. One hundred and twenty-six words. One word for every two servicemen or women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The Tories must hope that Brown continues to get mad rather than even. Those infamous ‘psychological flaws’ might cost him the premiership after all.
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Comments
Perry
October 4th, 2007 1:36pmWell done! The nature of the Beast will out, come what may.
Tiberius
October 4th, 2007 1:41pmThe Tory conference success has ensured Brown has to fight on a number of fronts; defending his record, paucity of attractive policy going forward, the SNP (is he really in danger of losing his seat in Kircaldy?), and a media at least distracted by Cameron again. Of course none of this matters if his voters stay with him, and I'm sure we'll see smoke bombs to screen them off. But an immediate election would surely hinder his efforts to obfuscate.
Dave Bartlett
October 4th, 2007 2:32pm" ... Gordon Brown shows promising signs of being permanently on the brink of losing control"
Simon Hoggart, The Guardian.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2074980,00.html
Mike Clifford
October 4th, 2007 4:51pmThis dithering on the part of Broon reminds me of his dither last year over whether to topple Blair or not: the same half-hearted thrust - performed on his behalf by others - followed by retreat.
Oscar Miller
October 4th, 2007 7:27pmIf after 100 days of media adulation a few slings and arrows are already driving him crazy those men and white coats will soon be coming to take him away ... looks like Charles Clarke was being rather understated in his judgement of Brown.