Clarke lashes out
Fraser Nelson 11:19am
Charles Clarke throws the book at Brown today in an interview with the Daily Mail. A few choice quotes.
1) "You saw it with David Cameron over MPs' expenses when he was out, very fast, dealing with the situation. Gordon must stop being a ditherer. He lacks courage. He looks at his papers, dithers and isn't sure."
2) "Gordon can only make the Cabinet seem heavyweight by changing the people he puts in it."
3) "At first, I had thought it unlikely he would give me a Government job. But then, when he became Prime Minister, he said that he had nothing personal against me and he asked me to be a special envoy to him in certain roles. I wrote to him about what such a role might entail and got no response. So, after about six weeks, I said 'no'. I told him my natural role was as a minister and not as his envoy."
4) "People want the security of confidence about where we are going. They are fed up with a stop-go, chop-and-change approach, taking up things and then dropping them. Voters don't know where Labour stands"
We can be sure Clarke speaks for many. But until there's a candidate to challenge Brown, all this remains a shiver desperately looking for a spine to run down.
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Herewego
February 9th, 2008 5:02pm Report this commentDavid Cameron has clearly been successful in establishing the label of 'ditherer' to Gordon Brown, now that a big beast such as Charles Clarke resorts to using the same language in his article. His praise for Cameron's management of the Conway affair also serves to demonstrate how much the Tories have changed. David Cameron, in echoing the views of the majority of political commentators and a former Government minister, is appearing more and more like a leader in waiting.
David Parker
February 9th, 2008 6:55pm Report this commentA case of the pot calling the kettle black? Was there not a great deal of dithering, by Clarke himself, over his eventual resignation/dsimissal?
Mike
February 10th, 2008 1:07am Report this commentCui Bono and why now? Are the tectonic plates in NuLab about to shift?
another mike
February 10th, 2008 11:39am Report this commentNever take any notice of a guy who has been unable to master the act of eating correctly.
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