The PBR didn't work politically for Brown, what's next?
James Forsyth 12:55pm
The ICM poll in today’s Guardian has the Tories ahead by 15 points, their largest lead in it since August. This combined with the Populus poll showing that Brown’s lead on the question of who is best leader to deal with the recession has shrunk dramatically seems to confirm what most commentators thought: the PBR was, to use Iain Martin’s phrase, a political dud.
The financial crisis has allowed Brown to present himself as the leader Britain needed and to improve his international standing; even if Mandelson is laying it on a bit thick when he says that “People really do look to him like some Moses figure who is going to lead them away from this economic mess to the promised land." But it now appears that this political moment is over.
In a fascinating interview with The Guardian, Mandelson comes up with this explanation of why Brown was in such political trouble by the summer:
“In Gordon's first year, he neither had a global financial crisis in which to display his skills, but neither did the government seem to be creating a new agenda of boldness that people need from any government that has been in office for over a decade. The default assumption about any party that has been in government for so long is that it has run out of ideas. You have to try doubly hard to demonstrate conclusively that this is not the case. The truth is we were not doing that successfully."
In this context, Mandelson’s comment that “I do believe - and I have said this to Gordon - that there is a role for some of the Blairite heavy hitters outside the government to play a role and make a contribution” is particularly interesting.
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bob
November 29th, 2008 1:19pm Report this comment“People really do look to him like some Moses figure who is going to lead them away from this economic mess to the promised land."
Is this Mandelson's bid to replace the Prime Mentalist as, er, the Prime Mentalist?
The sheer delusion of the man is awesome.
strapworld
November 29th, 2008 1:29pm Report this commentAnd, Mr Forsyth, there is a role for some of Major's /Howard's big hitters outside the shadow front bench to play a role and make a contribution.
Jock
November 29th, 2008 1:49pm Report this commentMoses like figure? Could be.
Definitely Old Testament,talks directly to God and likes issuing commandments telling the rest of us how we must live.
Laughing Larry
November 29th, 2008 2:06pm Report this commentSon: Dad, I have to do a special report for school. Can I ask you a question?
Father: Sure, son. What’s the question?
Son: What is politics?
Father: Well, let’s take our home for example. I am the wage earner, so let’s call me “Tony Blair.” Your mother is the administrator of money, so we’ll call her “Gordon Brown.” We take care of your needs, so we’ll call you “the People.” We’ll call the maid “the Working Class,” and your baby brother we can call “the Future.” Do you understand, son?
Son: I’m not really sure, Dad. I’ll have to think about it.
That night, awakened by his baby brother’s crying, the boy went to see what was wrong. Discovering that the baby had seriously soiled his diaper, the boy went to his parents’ room and found his mother sound asleep. He went to the maid’s room where, peeking through the keyhole, he saw his father in bed with the maid. The boy’s knocking went totally unheeded by his father and the maid, so the boy returned to his room and went back to sleep. The next morning he reported to his father.
Son: Dad, now I think I understand what politics is.
Father: Good, son! Can you explain it to me in your own words?
Son: Well, dad, while Tony Blair is screwing the Working Class, Gordon Brown is sound asleep, the People are being completely ignored and the Future is full of shit.
Alfred T Mahan
November 29th, 2008 2:33pm Report this commentMandy's more accurate than he thinks - Moses led the Israelites into the wilderness for forty years.
Sounds spot on to me.
JONNY
November 29th, 2008 2:38pm Report this commentIf the Tory lead goes over 20 by mid-Jan, what's to be Mandy's new role then I wonder?
Funeral Director and Mourner-in-Chief?
I guess he might fill the part pretty well in a garb of silky glossy black.
Ed B
November 29th, 2008 2:40pm Report this commentWhat's next? How about locking up the opposition and cancelling the election? That will allow the volk time to appreciate the wisdom of the long term decisions The Dear Leader is taking.
jon
November 29th, 2008 2:52pm Report this commentlooks like a picture of Hitler without the moustache.
TrevorsDen
November 29th, 2008 2:55pm Report this commentIf Gordon Brown is Moses then most people in Britain are wishing he had stayed in the bulrushes.
TrevorsDen
November 29th, 2008 2:57pm Report this commentHas anyone got any ideas for the 10 Commandments this new Moses figure might come down from the mountain with.
In my view his Number 1 is "Thou shalt do what I bloody well say"
Come to think of it that would probably do for nos 2 to 10
Stercus accidit
November 29th, 2008 3:09pm Report this commentDidn't Moses end up leading his people around the wilderness for forty years?
TGF UKIP
November 29th, 2008 3:16pm Report this commentVery encouraging results for the Tories overall but the Osborne factor still hangs heavy - 9% lead for Labour economic team over Dave and Boy George.
Hopefully there will be YouGov poll for tomorrows ST so that us leasser mortals will be able to access a geographical, age and socio economic breakdown in the overall figures.
Would recommend Coffee Housers also hie over to Dizzy at dizzythinks.net for a most interesting take on a coming PFI bombshell.
liz Brown
November 29th, 2008 4:10pm Report this commentPoor Sub Prime Mentlalist had neither an economic crisis nor a bold new agenda with which to wow us - can you deduce from this that the SPM contrived the financial crisis in order that he could appear Moses like to lead us from the wilderness? A great many of us know that much of the financial mess is a direct result of the SPM's meddling with the economy and his massive spending splurge - now we question how much of that was deliberate?
Acer
November 29th, 2008 4:18pm Report this commentIt's not just the Moses comparison from Mandleson.In the same Guardian (Review Section) Moses Brown is slightly more modest, comparing himself to FDR. Ostensibly recommending "FDR: The First 100 Days" as his Christmas book, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Moses Brown writes that what the book "brings out with such clarity is how Roosevelt, faced with an economic crisis of unprecedented severity, was prepared to put aside conventional policy approaches and, instead had the courage (a favourite Moses Brown word) to innovate and improvise to see what would work." There's more in the same vein.
Roger Davies
November 29th, 2008 4:31pm Report this commentThe GE date is fixed and the strategy to rig the Ballot Boxes finalised. Gordon Brown will proclaim a New Labour Gov. to rule for a thousand years. There is no other option and it is in the long term interest of the country. Heil Fuhrer!
AndyR
November 29th, 2008 4:58pm Report this commentWhat's next? Don't you know your Yes Minister? Always the same three things... scandal, royal event, (small) war. We still have the two wars since last time. We had the scandal this week but it just made the government look worse. The only thing left is a royal wedding. Anyone see William in a jewellery shop lately?
Don
November 29th, 2008 6:39pm Report this commentIt's really quite funny, NuLab are victims of their own spin. Having listened to years of Gordon's a genius, isn't he clever etc etc.... it is now dawning on them what we have all known for a very long time that Gordon is actually a bit thick.
Mandy certainly does have an air of Hitler sans moustache in that picture.
Peter Wilson
November 29th, 2008 8:17pm Report this commentMandelson: 'Brown is the new Moses'. I love it ;-)
Peter Wilson
November 29th, 2008 8:53pm Report this commentImagine if Moses was like Gordon Brown, the Bible would be so much different:
The People: ‘why have we ended up in the wilderness?’
Moses /Brown: ‘well it’s all America’s fault (yes I know they’ve not been discovered yet but it’s still their fault)
The People: ‘Why don’t you know where you’re going?’
Moses /Brown: ‘Well I ignored the advice of God, and I smashed my Satnav up in a rage but I’m still the best man for the job.
The People: “Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst”
Moses /Brown: “I have got to get on with the job, people want me to get on with the job, getting on with the job is the most important thing at the moment”.
Pete, Scotland
November 29th, 2008 11:58pm Report this commentExpect something nasty, really nasty.
Pete, Scotland
November 30th, 2008 12:12am Report this commentOff topic but why is that 'ALL' I get from UK news is the (appalling) attack in India.
Everytime I tune in to any news channel, whether it be Sky, BBC, ITV, etc it is non stop about the attack in India.
I want to know about the threat to our own democracy by the arrest of Green.
Is there a sinister reason why this does not have more prominence?
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