Sorry all round
Fraser Nelson 9:02am
Every Wednesday, a new and rather sadistic ritual takes place at Prime Minister's Question Time. David Cameron will ask Gordon Brown to admit he got something - anything - wrong and the Prime Minister will refuse. Mr Cameron is lowering the bar each time: last week, Brown was asked to confirm if there was a bust. It's as if he's programmed not to. Yet Martin Bright, our new spy, has news over on his blog: that No.10 has asked for DVDs of Barack Obama's apology and that Brown may be preparing his own one.
There is more than just the public humiliation aspect here. I argued in my News of the World column last weekend that it shows us something about a politician: that he can recognise a mistake and change track. In these fast-changing times, the ability to correct errors is vital. I don't think Brown can say sorry because he is still repeating his error: he borrowed too much, and threatened to drown Britain in a sea of borrowed money. His solution is even more of this debt. As we saw with British Jobs for British Workers, he will say anything to get political advantage. But he hasn't said sorry because he thought he could fool us that he was right all along. I suspect only a handful of people in the country believe it. So Brown, you could argue, has nothing to lose.
Sorry matters because almost everyone in the politiical (and commenting) classes got this wrong. As I said before, we have to move from a BC (Before the Crash) mindset to an AD (After the Downturn) way of thinking - and that means accepting much of what we knew in the last ten years was a lie. Bank of England independence was not a great success, as many (myself included) said. The BoE has been disastrous at monetary policy: over-supply of money - not sub-prime - is the root cause of this crisis. Apart from Jeff Randall and John Redwood - and, no doubt, a stream of CoffeeHousers - no one saw this coming. I'm a professional Brown-baiter. Even I missed the significance of the debt bubble. Mea maxima culpa.
I'd like to add a final, no doubt unpopular point. David Cameron has so far made a bat squeak of an apology to Andrew Marr: he should have noticed Brown's spending was out of control, he said. He needs to shout this louder, and be proud of his 'sorry'. To let us know he's the versatile type, as Obama did last week with his "I screwed up" admission. Cameron should be able not only to taunt Brown but to say: "I admitted I got it wrong - why can't you?" The public are not daft: they can see Cameron got it wrong. Why else promise to stick to Brown's ruinously expensive spending plans? There is a case, right now, for not trusting anyone who doesnt admit they got it wrong. Odds are that they are still trapped in the bubble mentality.
As for Brown, he's rumbled. The public have pulled back the curtain on this latter-day Wizard of Oz. In 2005 Blair adopted what he called the "masochism strategy" - went and got beaten up everywhere, did face-to-face interviews, got torn apart by TV audiences. The Blairites believe this took the sting out of the 2005 anti-Labour vote. I suspect Brown's pollsters are telling him it's time for a little masochism too. If he apologises, as Martin suggests he will, it may go some way to stopping the decline in Labour's poll ratings.
Previous
strapworld
February 11th, 2009 9:20am Report this commentBut any apology given by Brown will be double edged! There is no way that this lying son of the manse will accept ANY blame for what has occurred. So I expect it will be a WE got it wrong,rather than I! So he can rope in ALL parties and ALL organisations. An apology on behalf of us all!
IF I am wrong I will do the twist on my new replacement knees!
Andrew
February 11th, 2009 9:36am Report this comment"Mr Speaker, this apology - which, as everyone now recognises, began in America...."
michael m
February 11th, 2009 9:37am Report this commentLike a lot of people I am almost counting the days left for this Government(478 at the most). Unfortuntely for the British people it will seem like a lifetime, but I suppose if Brown ever apologises,it will be for him a lifeline
Searcher
February 11th, 2009 9:48am Report this commentWhat Blair, and especially Obama, both illustrate is - get your apology in first. Say sorry almost before people have started asking for one. It might help Brown to say sorry now (if he could think what for), but I think that we have waited so long that it would make no difference if he walked from Glasgow to Westminster on his knees. I'd like to see it though.
Walsingham's Ghost
February 11th, 2009 9:56am Report this comment"Bank of England independence was not a great success, as many (myself included) said. The BoE has been disastrous at monetary policy: over-supply of money - not sub-prime - is the root cause of this crisis."
Mmmm....
I think you are kicking the wrong cat here, Fraser - making the BoE independent was actually a GOOD thing in principle - stripping it of its traditional role of policing the money supply was the problem and that was not their fault.
Had the BoE been made independent and retained a stick to beat recalcitrant Banks with, we would have ended-up with lower interest rates AND a properly regulated Banking sector to boot.
Whoever stripped them of their policing role needs to apologise...
Peter Wilson
February 11th, 2009 10:03am Report this commentI suspect Brown's pollsters are telling him it's time for a little masochism too. If he apologises, as Martin suggests he will, it may go some way to stopping the decline in Labour's poll ratings.
The problem is, he's left it too late. It will look like he's jumping on the bandwagon, it won't sound sincere - I don't think he truly believes he's done anything wrong. It will also blow apart the 'global' aspect of Brown's defense.
Also his only 'attribute' to the electorate is the economy, this will be destroyed by an apology.
The 'no time for a novice' etc will become redundant. There's nothing else Brown is known for other than the economy.
Brown not apologising is, in my view, the least worst option for him.
DSS
February 11th, 2009 10:03am Report this commentWow, so he has to be taught how to say sorry....pity he wasn't taught any economics along the way.
cuffleyburgers
February 11th, 2009 10:05am Report this comment@ Searcher - I'd like to see him go from Westminster to Fife on his knees - and not come back.
Ever.
Tom Pride
February 11th, 2009 10:11am Report this commentPubic?
Sterence
February 11th, 2009 10:15am Report this commentBank of England "independence" was not per se a failure: the Bank was given one target (which was then changed) and they did their best to hit it, mostly successfully. The problem was goalposts set by the Government, for its own advantage. This is something that Labour never understands: government does have a role in a market economy, namely to draw up the rules (eg competition law) in a well-considered way, so that the wealth creators can get on with what they do in a secure, consistent environment. Instead Labour fails to think through its regulation (how many times have we heard the objection that a new law could have unforeseen consequences, to be told that it's OK because they don't plan to use it that way?) then blames market participants for behaving in a way permitted by the regulations. (Another example is middle-class parents who apparently are 'playing the system' by trying to get the best schooling for their children.)
Bloggers and commenters on here and elsewhere have been calling for a thorough audit of govt spending when/if a new govt gets in; urgently needed as well is an audit of stupid and half-baked legislation.
Sorry, I know this is supposed to be about apologies but Brown's efforts to shift blame away from his sorry crew must be prevented from infecting this site above all!
oldtimer
February 11th, 2009 10:42am Report this commentAs Nick Robinson has posted about the bankers` apology, in effect it was "I am sorry the iceberg got in the way of my good ship Titanic". So Balls has set this up with the comment that we face "the most serious global recession for 100 years". That will be the basis of Brown`s intended Get Out of Jail card. It is all global you idiots!
To which the question must be, if the evidence presented at the Treasury Committee stands up:
Q: Why did the headless chicken cross the road?
A: To appoint a lunatic to take charge of the asylum.
David
February 11th, 2009 10:44am Report this comment"The pubic have pulled back the curtain on this latter-day Wizard of Oz."
Cough.....
Wilhelm
February 11th, 2009 10:56am Report this commentTalk is cheap, saying ''sorry '' thats just words. Gordon Broon and those bankers are sorry because they got caught, not because they wrecked the economy. If a captain of a ship rams his boat into an iceberg and says sorry afterwards, would we say '' ach well, let byegones be byegone '' No he would be fired on the spot.
One of these bankers are getting £80.000 a week for failure. If they were truly sorry they would donate their bonuses to charity, but that wouldnt happen , would it ?
Wily Trout
February 11th, 2009 11:27am Report this commentHere in the boondocks there are still many many people who believe everything GB says, and who believe that the downturn simply results from American evils. They want to believe that, and they do. New Labour must know that there is still a strong rump of the faithful out there. If he apologises, he loses his last redoubt.
Michael
February 11th, 2009 11:42am Report this commentI would like to see the Treasury committee send for Eddy George. Let us hear just what was said in 1997 when Brown and Balls started their gigantic cock-up
Paul B
February 11th, 2009 11:46am Report this commentIm totally with Wilhelm, sorry is just a word. It means nothing unless backed with action. This craze to say sorry if hangover from the mass hysteria witnessed at Dianes unfortunate death. Who care if Brown says sorry, he`ll only say it if he calculates it will benefit him, there will be no true remorse. The only true sign of remorse would be "Mr Speaker- I have ballsed up big time, I have been wrong all along. I apologise to the British public and hereby tender my resignation. Election 4 weeks tomorrow-goodbye"
Wilhelm
February 11th, 2009 12:03pm Report this commentGordon Broon squeeeks '' sorry ''
Last week he was boasting '' I have saved the world.''
You can draw your own comclusions from that.
RODEST
February 11th, 2009 12:13pm Report this commentThe maxim for Brown is that 'sorry' is too late, the wrong cannot be put right by insincere words of the procrastinator.
The words that Brown should be saying to the nation arethat he is 'responsible' for the economic failures and will resign with immediate effect.
Tiberius
February 11th, 2009 1:11pm Report this commentDid anyone hear Neil Kinnock give a bat squeak of an apology for favouring entry into the ERM?
Wily Trout
February 11th, 2009 1:24pm Report this commentWho's Martin Bright spying on, then?
Tom Pride
February 11th, 2009 1:54pm Report this commentMichael
February 11th, 2009 11:42am
“I would like to see the Treasury committee send for Eddy George. Let us hear just what was said in 1997 when Brown and Balls started their gigantic cock-up”
Apparently he (Eddy George then Governor of the Bank of England) seriously considered resigning when the Bank of England’s regulatory role over the Banks was removed by Brown / Balls. He has been proved right. His evidence would be incendiary if he chose to let rip. Any chance that an appearance by Eddy George in front of the Treasury Select Committee could be arranged?
It could toast Brown in the eyes of the country although there is no chance it could dent the man’s hubris.
As Matthew Parris wrote a “Deranged monster of a politician”.
( http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5484697.ece )
Andy
February 11th, 2009 7:37pm Report this commentYou can just hear Gordon, can't you? "Should I apologise or not? Would it keep my job?" Um, haver, haver.
hadrian
February 13th, 2009 12:59am Report this commentHaving watched the Broon Bungler's performance before the Committee today, I can only conclude that if he does say 'sorry' in any way, shape or form, it will be entirely insincere, like the bankers' yesterday, and what is more, perfectly perceived to be such. There he was today on his indignant high horse, airily dismissing the need for a personal sorry as a great diservice to the serious matter of getting to the root of the problem which certainly was not peculiarly a British one...er, heard all this before somewhere?!
As for the debt bubble, Fraser, old boy, it hardly takes a genius or even a professional economist to discern that living beyond ones means will one day snap back and bite you. That it was the money of THRIFTY individuals that was being gambled away makes the reprehensibility infinitely greater.
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