Remembering Chancellor Road-Block
Peter Hoskin 11:13am
Rachel Sylvester writes a typically excellent article in today's Telegraph, charting Brown's apparent transformation into a fervid Blairite. I'm still not convinced that the change is anything more than rhetorical. But regardless of Brown's sincerity, he'll face a big challenge to make people forget his time as a "roadblock to reform". As Sylvester puts it:
"But what if [Brown's pro-reform stance is] too late? What if the image of sullen ground has stuck? What if it takes too long for the reforms to come into effect? What if the voters do not have the patience to wait?
As one minister says: 'The problem is, we're about three years behind where we would have been if Gordon hadn't been so difficult when he was Chancellor.'
As Prime Minister, Mr Brown may have embraced reform but, at the next election, he will be judged as much on the decisions he took at the Treasury as on his record at Number 10."
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James Sproule
March 4th, 2008 12:32pm Report this commentWhat does it say about a person who knows that reforms are necessary, knows what those reforms should be, yet is only willing to engage in those reforms so long as they gain all of the credit? I have thought it for some time, Gordon Brown is a Greek tragedy, drinking deeply from the cup he himself has poisoned. It could not happen to a more deserving man.
EyeSee
March 4th, 2008 1:17pm Report this commentBlair underestimated! The slimy snake-oil salesman Blair, may have had genuine cunning after all. What better way for Brown to suffer for being a complete bas**** for ten years, than to hand him the ball and see how he copes ith his own incompetence at the Treasury. Let alone handing over the sinking ship Labour under Blair had created. Who knows, history may well forget how truly terrible Blair was, when he has manged to hand over to someone even more self-interested and useless than him.
Purple Scorpion
March 4th, 2008 10:44pm Report this commentMuch the most interesting part of her article was the claim that "Privately, ministers are already discussing moving to the next stage of reform and adopting the "Swedish model", which would give parents far greater choice over their children's education by creating a market between schools." An "internal market" in education? Aren't Labour opposed to internal markets for state services? Are Labour really floating empowerment through an internal market simultaneously with disempowerment through school lotteries? Maybe there's a review on the cards. Or is this just a red herring to worry Michael Gove?
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