Are they trying to teach Gordon how to say sorry?
James Forsyth 11:19pm
The apologies, however hedged, from the disgraced bankers at today’s Treasury Select Committee hearing, highlighted that there has been no apology from the Prime Minister for his role in all this. Indeed, Brown’s consistent refusal to acknowledge his errors has diminished whatever was left of his Prime Ministerial authority. Just remember that Today Programme interview where Brown claimed that, with the benefit of hindsight, the one thing he wished he’d done differently was keep a closer eye on the American sub-prime market. But Martin Bright reports that Downing Street is considering a change of tack:
“word reaches The Bright Stuff that the man who has never knowingly apologised for anything is preparing his very own "mea culpa". I am told that Whitehall officials have been ordered to make a compilation DVD of Obama's various apologies to the American TV networks to be studied by the Prime Minister.
The idea of Gordon Brown practising a humble self-deprecating manner in front of the mirror based on what he has seen on his training DVD doesn't bear thinking about. But then again... maybe it does.”
I suspect that a statement of contrition from Brown would be too little too late. But with Labour back below 30 percent in the polls, Brown needs to try something.
Previous
Hysteria
February 11th, 2009 12:14am Report this commentso he might say sorry
erm - so what? It ain't going to change what has been, or what is - and unlikely to change what will be.
Pitchforks !!!! Torches!!!!!!
Prodicus
February 11th, 2009 12:15am Report this commentI am already retching at the thought of watching his face contort... No, please, no.
Wight Tory
February 11th, 2009 12:41am Report this commentHe should then call an election and see how many of the UK votors forgive him...
mitch
February 11th, 2009 5:07am Report this commentBut who would believe him? even I remember him saying his government "always makes the right decisions" this would be played endlessly to him.
If he started where would he stop eh? rugby,primary school,birth or conception?
Ctesibius
February 11th, 2009 7:54am Report this commentHow about the 'Man of courage' trying a snap Election?
Alfred T Mahan
February 11th, 2009 8:30am Report this commentDoes he not understand the difference between apologising for a bad appointment because all the facts aren't known, and apologising for a dozen years of hubris and the ruination of an entire economy?
It's gone beyond simply saying sorry now - and certainly no one will believe an insincere apology and it'll only make Brown seem even more emotionally inadequate than he already is.
mac
February 11th, 2009 8:43am Report this commentBring it on: any rehearsed show of contrition will backfire.
Unlike Blair, Brown cannot act and his arrogance is such that any 'apology' will be as artificial and shallow as those heard yesterday from the 4 bankers. Brown will continue to lay the real blame elsewhere.
And if he deigns to be interviewed after such a pantomime appearance incisive questioning surely would elicit the same denial of personal culpability heard from A. Hornby.
But that's not going to happen on a BBC programme, is it? A BBC 'interview' could only be on Brown's terms with the malleable Marr who, as like as not, would stand up and applaud even as Brown drivelled his fairy story.
Liz Brown
February 11th, 2009 8:58am Report this commentWe all need a good laugh............
richardj
February 11th, 2009 9:04am Report this commentHow about sorry for being born!
Death or Tory
February 11th, 2009 9:08am Report this commentHa, ha, ha...
His performance would make a great 'Before & After' training video in itself -
"Now students, pay attention while Mr Brown deonstrates how NOT to say sorry 'on camera'...".
Hawkeye
February 11th, 2009 9:15am Report this comment"there has been no apology from the Prime Minister for his role in all this."
I think the extent of the Prime Minister's role in the creation of this disaster is only just starting to come to light. To find that he ignored warnings from the start that he was on a path to disaster is frightening and shows that the man must be unbelivably arrogant.
People say that no one saw this coming - rubbish!! The OECD has been warning for years that the structure of the govt.s finances were unstable. Various financial commentators have been saying for years that Brown was building a disaster. Now it turns out that Eddie George told them in May '97 that their plan was flawed and another ex-banker tried to warn us several years ago.
Dear God - how many people does it take to shout the warnings before Gordon hears the message?
If he is proven to be a serial incompetent then he should be hounded out of office and jailed for the trainwreck he has inflicted on us. Businesses ruined, people evicted from their homes, livelihoods trashed - all so that he can spray money about the place which was not even well spent!!
D*mn it!! I'm so mad about the whole thing and I'm getting more worked up the more I think about this. I'm going to cool off for bit....
Rhoda Klapp
February 11th, 2009 9:22am Report this commentTiming is everything, and the time for this has long gone.
If he does say sorry, remember if he drops his jaw that way he does, he's lying.
Wilhelm
February 11th, 2009 9:47am Report this commentThe bankers are not sorry at all, they are sorry that they got caught, not that they wrecked their own banks.
Talk is cheap, if they were truly sorry, they would donate their own bonuses to charity, but that aint going to happen, is it ?
DM
February 11th, 2009 9:54am Report this commentI cannot see how saying sorry doesn't negate everything he has stood for up to now, in which case there must be a resignation too.
Nicholas
February 11th, 2009 10:50am Report this commentLabour's deference to all things Obamania reveals just how bereft of ideas and just how shallow they are. Puerile.
And the way that public apology has overtaken resignation in this country as "the thing to do" reveals just how accommodating to our political elite and just how apathetic we have become.
Can I break a speed limit and apologise? Or not pay my council tax and apologise? Or throw one of my shoes at Gordon Brown and apologise?
We have really lost our way. Wandered or been led, maybe both, but in a wilderness of nonsense.
Incredulous
February 11th, 2009 11:13am Report this commentSo the man has to watch a video to learn how to say sorry? What was that expression again - "psychologically flawed"?
Wily Trout
February 11th, 2009 11:39am Report this commentMaybe instead Brown will screech, ha ha ha my evil plan has worked, now you bloated English capitalist running dogs will see how I despise you, etc etc (delivered foaming from the mantelpiece)...
I've always thought he was a bitter, English-hating Scot. Maybe it was worth trashing the rest of the UK just to get back at the middle classes.
Tiberius
February 11th, 2009 12:55pm Report this commentWe don't need his apology - we need his resignation.
Anything else is just more lying and deceit.
Chris Lancashire
February 11th, 2009 5:52pm Report this commentHe won't say sorry because in the Brown world this admits fallibility and leads straight to an election. And he won't do that until he's forced to as the man hasn't got, and never had, any of that courage he keeps writing about.
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