Joined-up government

Mitch

I think even Brown could get one of his staff's phone number if he wanted.

Vulture

Brogan's piece is a thoughtful comparison of the strengths/weaknesses of our two leaders as evidenced by their holiday habits.

He concludes that relaxed Dave (leisurely hols in Oxon, Brittany & Greece) can trump Bruin ( a few snatched and doubtless rainy days in the Lakes) at conference time by emulating Mrs Thatcher's conference speech in 1978 preceding her GE triumph in 79 by spelling out in a few ringing phrases what a Tory win will mean.

I think it will take more than a few words of Davese hot air to make the electorate fall in love. When the GE comes they will vote Liebour and Bruin out rather than Dave and Boy George in. They are going to win weakly by default.

Occasional Ostrich

Mitch
July 23rd, 2009 9:34am

Not if his staff bought new mobiles and left their old ones at home, he couldn't.

TPR

I blame Broon for the rapid onset of my Tourettes. Whenever I hear mention of him, the unspeakable being that he is, I feel the need to utter expletives, my mother still believes are unknown to me. #*%^!

mac

OO

Could the Brown coterie really be quite so sly and deceitful? After all, these people are courtiers to the man with an unimpeachable moral compass (self-proclaimed) and a spotless integrity (self-proclaimed).

Mitch

Occasional Ostrich
July 23rd, 2009 10:19am

OK, I see. Number 10 staff making themselves un-contactable.

Nice story, pity about the facts.

4ntarctic

I'm quite sure it will make no difference to the end result.

Michael

"surreptitiously deleting their numbers from his mobile."
Isn't that hacking? Or is it after the mobile's been thrown at them?

Sir Graphus

It actually shows why he is such an ineffective PM. A leader's (in any field) job is to determine direction, while minions do the heads down bums up bit. The leader must unclutter his brain to see the big picture.

If the leader is too bogged down (in this case, because he wished to control everything), then he has no big-picture time; cannot work out a strategy, and becomes, as he has done, reactive to events.

This is why he needs a crisis to appear effective, because a crisis is about reactively knuckling down and sorting out the problem.

When there's no banking crisis, or that foot and mouth issue, he's directionless. He does have one last chance, though, if swine flu can become that crisis he needs.

strapworld

Vulture...I reckon Brown will call the general election during the Labour Party Conference. Thus denying Cameron to hold the Conservative Conference!

mind you, it will backfire on Brown. But I do think he has been advised to go for it sooner rather than later!

Tiberius

That piece from Ben Brogan is quite instructive, apart from the gag about deleting mobile numbers.

It always makes me smile when I read commentators, who are Mrs Thatcher nuts, castigating Cameron for lack of policy detail. Just who is putting what in Simon Heffer's and Janet Daley's tea?

Of course, Mrs Thatcher wasn't the only opposition leader to win office with policy-lite. I still find it extraordinary that Labour's 1997 manifesto did not commit the the independence of the BoE, for example.

But Ben appears to think Labour could win the next election, and the party conferences will decide which way it goes. Never say never of course, but if Labour win not only will Britain really be finished, but it will ensure Monty Panesar will be opening the batting for England next summer.

Albert Hall

Is that the job that people want him to do?

Wily Trout

Hope they don't put the new mobiles on expenses.

Jean Baker

Their mobile numbers are undoubtedly computer recorded.

Brown's merely Mandleson's puppet.

michael

What piece of music would you allocate to a GB incoming?

What wretchedly obsequious greeting might you subsequently post for your voicemail?

Hysteria

Non story ...

apart from Monty opening the batting of course!

seb

There's an apparent typo in Brogan's article. Brown is said to be worried that, after leading the nation THROUGH DARK TIMES, the electorate will dump him [i.e. "on him".] I believe this ought to have read - "leading the nation INTO DARK TIMES".

Rob C

I'm glad it's not just me that picks up Brown's popular phrase "getting on with the job" - it has to be the joke of the decade.

If he is genuinely "getting on with the job" then the mess we are in just goes to prove he isn't fit to be doing it! On the other hand if he isn't really and it's just a contrived phrase then we deserve someone better who can do the job. Either way, the fact that the country is going down the toilet is HIS fault so why does he continue to use that line? To me it's like someone who's just shot themselves in the foot reloading for the next re-take...

Alan Douglas

There seems to be rampant misinformation about.

It is "I'm getting on with this jobbie", which might well explain why the whole nation is smeared Brown ?

Alan Douglas