A face-saving exit for Brown?

GeoffH

There's only one thing to say: "God help us".

Chris lancashire

It would be an absolute travesty if Brown was allowed anywhere near financial regulation after this. Mind you, Blair the ace warmaker managed to worm his way into international peacemaker.

bitter and twisted

If she were to read Trevor Kavanagh in today's Sun, she would get an idea of how the country feels, and could stomach. This Labour crowd should be licking their wounds, never to rear their heads again, not take plum cushy international jobs. And an international FINANCIAL REGULATORY body. Who in their right minds would offer HIM the job. Labour still don't get it. The country wants an election, a change, and that lot out.

C Powell

We can't be foisted with yet another unelected PM. If Brown goes we should have a general election

Rick

Send more lifeboats!

Publius

There is something monstrous about the thought of Brown swanning off into some gold-plated international non-job while everyone else is left to suffer.

Peter Wilson

Michael White doesn't seem to think so.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/feb/16/gordon-brown-angela-merkel

oldtimer

Putting Brown in charge of international banking regulation is even less convincing, and more outrageous, than putting Crosby into the FSA! Do not these international leaders realise that appointing Brown to this role would make them the laughing stock of the world?

If they are going to create such a body, they need someone in charge who knows what he is talking about, can think strategically and behaves in a civilised manner. They certainly do not need a headless chicken.

HFC

...and the fairies at the bottom of my garden told me they are considering moving to Neverland and setting up home with the Lost Boys.

(That'll be the Labour MPs whom will be hoping that Jobseekers Allowance will be available to them.)

Wilhelm

Broon is not going anywhere, he has waited 20 years for the top job, he'll leave Downing street kicking and screaming with his fingernails scratched into the paintwork of the front door.

Tom Judd

Jackie Ashley may be "plugged in" to the Brown circle but the same can't be said for her knowledge of either continental politics or G20 plans. There won't be a global financial regulator for Brown to head even if Merkel and Sarkozy - who have come around to the notion of Blair heading the European Council - wanted Brown to do it. This story is entirely bogus and requires no outrage from any anti-Brownies.

Peter

Now is the moment for a cabinet member to do a Geoffrey Howe, resign and make a devastating speech in the House of Commons. It should include an apology, a statement of what s/he knows about the state of te country's finances and a call for Gordon to do the right thing in the interests of the country and walk. That politicians would go down in history. The moment for that is now.

Herbie

What utter twaddle Jackie Ashley writes. Apart from the obvious" lunatic in charge of the asylum" joke, if Brown was to resign then quite obviously an immediate general election would have to be called. This country would not tolerate two unelected Prime Ministers in succession.

Mr Green

It's not just a case of "will he go" or even "will he jump or be pushed", but rather "who will volunteer to take over from him?"
Surely Alan Johnson's not going to assume the temporary position of a fall-guy PM just so that Brown can move onto another high-paying non-job.

Bruce, UK

"International". So Brown would get 1 G20 vote then (and only if he hasn't been commited by then). I can just see Obama and Sarko and Merkel et al leaping at the chance to have Brown interfering in their domestic finances and telling them how it should be done. As they say on the net, LOL!

Thomas Cussans

Actually, the comparison that comes to mind is suggesting, in March 1945, that the best way to end the War would be to offer Adolf Hitler the General Secretaryship of the UN.

Ashley is right about Johnson, though.

Alan Douglas

My local council needs a dog-poo-catcher - Brown would fill the post with distinction.

And it would finally be something worthy of his talents ....

Alan Douglas

Ian C

This is the left trying to look after its own by flying a kite as to how save his skin - and pretend there would be no disgrace in such an idea.

It would cause an absolute uproar and show up the 'international community' and institutions amongst it for what they really are - jobs for the boys who have never had a proper job who think they know better and that the world owes them a living.

JONNY

Alan Johnson.
Wow oh Wow.
What a brilliant idea.
If 'no time for novices' is still the order of the day, he's got to be your man.

He's got the lot hasn't he half. Brains. Substance. The unmistakeable aura of Homme de Destin.
And an iresistible line in matey winks. That should save Labour and The Country.

RODEST

My prediction for the past six months has been that if Brown failed to call an election by the end of this month he would face a leadership challenge in the near future.

It looks like the Labour spin machine is in overdrive, start a rumour that Brown has other ambitions allowing him to walk away without suffering the deserved consequences of a defeat in a leadership election or at the polls.

Nulabour and its spin doctors do not have the stomach to face judgement by the electorate. The are in denial of their part in the financial crisis, of wrecking pension funds and wrongdoing in claiming unjustifiable expenses.

The world economies are ruined, with Brown as a regulator, they are unlikely to recover in the first half of this century.

Mike, Brighton

No chance - the idea that Brown could jump after waiting, plotting and conspiring all his political life to be PM is a joke. As Wilhelm says he will need to be dragged from No.10.
To think the the public would wear yet-another-unelected PM as a "caretaker" whilst Brown swans off to "save the world" (again) is beyond a joke. It would cause an immediate election and a defeat so calamitous that Labour could would not be able to recover from.

Max Kaye

The only face-saving exit would be for him to resign of the grounds of ill-health.

(Yes - we're all sick of him).

Sally Chatterjee

There is a precendent: after plotting an illegal invasion, Tony Blair become a Peace Envoy in the Middle-East. Brown can just as well be crowned the world's financial policeman despite a legacy of ruin and bankruptcy behind him.

Herbie

What utter twaddle Jackie Ashley writes. Apart from the accusation of a "lunatic in charge of the asylum" if Brown was ever to be made a leader of a world financial regulatory system. If Brown were to resign this country would not tolerate a second unelected Prime Minister in succession .

mac

"Lessons are being learned, with changes to bank regulation, but after all, nobody else spotted the dangers either."

Unbelievable! Oh, wait. I'm forgetting that this is Mrs Marr, one half of that matching pair of long-time sycophantic shills for Gordon the political and economic colossus. And, under a cloak of cod 'straight-talking', still a worshipper: "please Gordon, if you apologise a teeny bit, all criticism will surely melt away".

Steve.W

Jackie Ashley has got Brown all wrong. For example she says, "he isn't stupid". Oh yes he is.

cuffleyburgers

I have long suspected and indeed posted to the effect that Brown had his eye on an international finance job, and his long apprenticeship as chancellor and stint in Number 10 to give him the necessary gravitas should be viewed in this light, and I think this announcement originates in the Brown strategy department perhaps when they were taking a breather between consignments of chickens being delivered.

The fact that even if such a role were to be created, enough people realize the truth not to let him within a hundred miles of it; let's face it is irrelevant, the man is as we know totally delusional.

He KNOWS he was Britain's best chancellor since Gladsone, he KNOWS the current travails of the economy are nothing to do with him, and lucky he's around to take the difficult decisions for the long term (ie high taxes for generations) and he KNOWS that he shouldn't really abandon his country in its time of need but the world needs HIM now and, well, it's a difficult decision but somebody's got to take it...

He really is absolutely barking, but that's how I read it, and in fact I don't see another way.

And neither does he. ANd never has.

john t

Spectator, give Sally Chatterjee a blog. She always gets to the core of things.

Ivy Eileen

If true, this would be the biggest "cut and run" in political history.

Equally scandalous would be putting the arsonist in charge of the new order of fire precautions - this story won't fly. Who would promote this organisation, pay for it, house it and provide the staff etc. (The U.S.has its hands' full with its own problems and with the U.N.). Sarkozy, Merkel, the Canadians and the Aussies would laugh it into absurdity.

Wily Trout

Surely it is Mrs Harperson who is going to take over after GB: the only Labour politican madder than he is?

The Remittance Man

Wilhelm,

I agree with your scenario entirely except for one point: How will Brown's fingernails scratch into the black paint of the front door when he'll be nicely wrapped in a straight jacket?

Colin

Not even this awful regime could contemplate forcing another unelected PM on us...

Could they?

If he went early, they'd have to call an immediate general election.

Searcher

Surely G Brown would never accept such as position, as it would be a reward for failure, and we can't have that :). But look on the bright side - the job would take hime out of the country, and the next (conservative) government could refuse him re-admission on the grounds that his presence would stir up social unrest.

RW

Brown is known to be having difficulty controlling his temper - look at that testy appearance before McFall's committee, or his aggressiveness towards journalists at a recent press conference - and to be concerned about his failing eyesight. Might it be that he is indeed looking for a "face-saving exit" - but on domestic and medical grounds?

Rex Burr

Brown refuses to set his face against the Bonus Culture.
Clearly he intends to find a post where he will become an adherent of that culture.
He has recently questioned the cost of MP’s pensions. Clearly a diversion to take attention away from MP’s expenses, but it will be quietly dropped and nothing will actually change, certainly not before he qualifies for his wad.

Ivy Eileen

"I think this announcement originates in the Brown strategy department perhaps when they were taking a breather between consignments of chickens being delivered" -

- of the headless variety ?

Pete

If one concludes that, of the diabolical trio of the 'New Labour Project' initiators, Brown is very definately the poor cousin, both Blair and Madelson having made their pile. It does not surprise me one bit, that Brown is preparing to jump ship, and move to a lucrative ,private position, but, and this is a big but. Who in Gods name would have him. He is a complete Loon.

George Laird

Dear All

James poses a question;

"A face saving exit for Brown".

There isn't one.

If he goes before an election he will be seen as a coward and if he goes after to another job then people will wonder if it is a bribe.

The idea that Brown can head a new international financial regulatory body is a pipe dream.

We have seen the Sir James Crosbie saga unfold and the blame and bad judgement coming home to roost at Gordon Brown's front door, time and time again.

Who in their right mind would put in place a man who has a massive track record of incompetence and failure?

The real story is who is going to replace Brown as leader of the Labour Party?

Anything else is meaningless for a Labour MP.

So many people are now jumping ship that the rot can only be stopped by a June 2009 election.

This is the only date that Brown can go to the country, Mandelson has clicked on to that fact now.

Everything between now and then produced by Labour should be looked at for what it is Pre-election propaganda.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Roger Thornhill

Brown is a Marxist. He has Internationalism and Monopoly in his DNA. This is a very tempting offer for him IMHO. I always thought he was aiming to wreck the UK and hop to some sinecure if the men in white coats did not get him first.

That said, such a body will be the end of freedom and any hope of further mass prosperity. Someone like Gordon will end up pushing for a per-transaction tax and thus demand the end of note and coin. Everything we do will be tracked, monitored, assessed for criminality and sold on to Marketeers who will pester us with their garbage.

Ann

ROFL. Brownie couldn't regulate a whelk stall.

"Blair the ace warmaker" - drivel!

Ann

"Jackie Ashley may be "plugged in" to the Brown circle but the same can't be said for her knowledge of either continental politics or G20 plans."

True enough. We remember her mouth-frothing 'articles' about people she doesn't like. She is a loon.

Ann

"plotting an illegal invasion"

Crikey, yet another idiot comes up with this nonsense about an 'illegal' invasion.

John

If he goes before an election he will be seen as a coward -

Yes? And? We all know that he is one.

TomTom

Jackie Ashley is dim and cannot comprehend that Japan, China, Taiwan have the kind of foreign currency reserves that give them influence and they no longer kow-tow to some Briton who thinks international jobs are another line on the resume.

One day even Mrs Marr will understand just how insignificant Britain is becoming on the world stage; economically it has overblown its self-importance by being a giant BCCI

John Miller

I commented last summer that he will resign shortly before the next election on the grounds of failing eyesight. This story is being floated once again in various quarters. Blunkett proved that nobody has the stomach to vilify a blind man.

Talking Head

Look at it the other way round....if it's true how would he behave?....and then ask how is he behaving?....and then....bye.