New Year, same old Brown

Stevie Walker

Like I said on another thread-Labours election strategy is to tell lies-end of. And not one interviewer, journalist or reporter takes him to task on it.

Number7

I have just watched this debacle on iPlayer.

As somebody who has beened trained in body language, and trained others in how to use it, this interview was beyond parady.

Producing his rictus grin when saying something negative being one of the milder errors.

Whilst personally uncertain about DC and the rest of the "oons" I think can say:-

"Bring on the live debates".

Noa Zrk

Yes.spot on James.
Unbelievably for such an disastrous incompetent Brown is actually coming out better in the early electoral beauty parade between himself and Cameron.
He's personal, aggressive, consistent and a political bruiser. By contrast Cameron is failing to provide us with any distinguishing policies or characteristics, certainly there's no passion or self belief in what he says. Nothing to convince the faithful never mind the undecided voter. Truly I am at a complete loss as to why he can't land a single telling punch on the most incompetent political leader since Nero. At present Cameron appears to be the ineffectual leader of the dead sheep party; being fleeced by a robber barren.

chris as usual

Marr showed conclusively today that he is not up to it.

As we have said before, the BBC should hire people who know their subject to discuss the facts with politicians, especially Brown and Cameron.

These people must be able to force out and separate the facts, and the truth, from political posturing and deceit.

If the British public can't see through this (assuming they are listening) then God help us.

Verityred

Yes same old Gordon. A liar.

Btw looking at a couple of postings today, If I were a Labour troll I'd pretend to take the point of view of a dinosaur past the sell by date conservative/UKIP ranter and bang on endlessly about how Cameron is not a Conservative + other repetitive insults. Anything to feebly try and help the cause.

That's you busted Verity/Strapworld (who give stuck records a serious run for their money) unless of course you actually are UKIP ranters. Either way rather pretty tragic.

jason

This new initive is actually months old. Number 10 made it out to be some new big idea that brown and obama had been working on. The white house would have released a statement saying they had worked on it which makes this so pathetic that Number 10 pretended they worked on it.

oldtimer

Marr missed (or avoided?) several opportunities to skewer Brown lies. Curiously, judging from Brown`s body language at the end (anything but relaxed) he struck a Brown nerve with his question about Harman or Mandelson fronting up the daily press conferences expected once the election campaign starts officially.

The Brown case was very feeble especially on the decline of manufacturing and where Marr did nail him.

teledu

Did anyone seriously think Marrshmallow was capable of giving Brown a tough ride?
Marr probably doesn't have the nous of, say, Fraser Nelson, when it comes to exposing his economic/statistical lies and. er...doesn't the Marr household have a bit of a Labour bias too?

mitch

he should ask about this story and the missing £100billion

http://the-tap.blogspot.com/2010/01/uk-government-revenues-down-by-30-in-2.html

JSMill

Brown knows that few of his supporters will do the maths and want to believe that he will take from the rich to keep them in their jobs, which they think are terribly important. There are quite a few who also think that printing money and raising taxes will do the job. Cameron's problem is that he needs their votes too so he can't say too much about the necessary cuts. What we need is journalists to tell the truth, as you have, that tax rises barely scratch the surface and that cuts are necessary.

D K MCGREGOR

The most revealing part of this interveiw was right at the beginning when Broon was asked where Britainn would make its money in the future and the most lame of lists was produced and the astonishing claim that we are leading the world in electric vehicles ,windmills and other green technologies , when pressed by Marr that the leaders in these technologies were Toyota , the French in nuclear etc , he saaid yes they were BASED in the UK . Did I miss all these major relocations of world leading companies or is the man that saved the world getting a bit confused between head office / r and d facilities and assembly plants?

Tim Adams

Why is it always Vince Cable who first spells out the truth about Brown's nonsensical utterings? Is George Osborne asleep, or is he too pre-occupied with the main campaign?

David Ossitt

James neither you; nor Noddy Big Ears who conducted the interview made any comment regarding Gordon’s:-

“The pension tax reliefs that were very generous in the past have had to be removed”.

If this is true; is it?

Then the mad, bad, bloody minded Scott has finally accomplished that, which he started; at the beginning of his term as Chancellor.

Namely the utter and complete distruction; of both, private sector company pensions
and even more damaging, the devastation of what were seen by many as the very best personal pension schemes in the world.

Words such as; incompetent, stupidly malicious, cretinous, do not do justice in
any attempt that I might try to describe this mumbling bumbling failure.

Turkeybellyboy

This photo of lovely old Gordon somehow reminds me of Robert Maxwell - how appropriate...!

Simon

I think New Year, same old Heffer House blog would be a more appropriate title given today's various tirades and their amusing disconnection from reality.

Percy

Brown only really sounds confident when spouting off about things where there'll be no concrete resolutions: climate change, the new focus on Yeman; things he know won't win or lose an election. He grins like a lunatic when talking about his war council; but on the meat and drink of the things that most people care about he just talks utter crap. Nothing adds up but the MSM seen pretty reluctant to hold him to account; I can sort of see why, who wouldn't want to end a conversation with an unpleasant looking man in an obviously grubby suit jacket as soon as possible?

Austin Barry

Brown radiates such gloom, despair and despondency that one hopes the National Grid can accommodate the required levels of electro-shock therapy.

He must lose thousands of votes whenever his grim, lifeless, obsidian features loom on our screens. I've seen corpses with more charisma and optimism.

Mandy and his plotters really should put this poor man out of his evident misery as soon as possible. The best thing now for Gordon is sympathetic care in a Scottish nursing home where he can watch the light decline to the joyful strain sounds of Jimmy Shand and his Band.

Gordon needs our sympathy and understanding. Let us not disappoint him.

Ed B

Did Brown really say that Gen Petraeus is going to Yemen? Does he have the authority to command this?

Nicholas

Not interested in what this liar has to say.

Dan

Brown's performance was simply awful and quite scary. Marr didn't help by allowing him to spout his usual utter drivel.

I stick by my profound belief that there is no way the British public will vote in this lunatic for another five years. As such, Brown remains a key electoral asset for the Conservatives.

Moraymint

I didn't watch the interview, but since when was Andrew Marr ever going to punch Brown on to the ropes? Brown eats the likes of Marr for breakfast, doesn't he?

Gannic

Is it just me, or does Brown rather resemble a scrotum with a face drawn on it?

I doubt this will make it through moderation, but I do hope the moderators enjoy!

Boudicca

"not directly. In other words, whatever had been implied Brown and Obama haven't talked about this."
-----------

It will be interesting to see if Obama turns up for Brown's desperate attention-seeking Yemen Summit in London. My betting is not. It is a blatent attempt by Brown to be seen hob-nobbing with Obama shortly before firing the pistol on the General Election campaign and Obama isn't stupid ... he knows post election he is likely to be dealing with PM Cameron.

James D

Wow. That transcript is so bad that you could swap in the words "James Hacker" for "Gordon Brown" and no-one would know the difference.

Holly ......

Like I've been saying all day.
Brown the tax raising, shamless lying no good spending jerk.
Now, after knocking all asperation out of millions of Brits, he decides he is the asperation guru.
Stolen directly from Cameron's speech yesterday.
What is this bozo drinking?
What about the..'there may be a budget in the spring, if the time is right', bollocks
Give us a break from this clown.
Why credit Brown? The man is as thick as a plank.
Brown is going to chase every crisis for a headline that makes him look like a big figure on the world stage.
Well he won't have far to chase seeing as he is the main cause of half of them, or is it just 'world crisis' that he is sticking his big clunking fist into?
God you can just see other world leaders running for cover so the camera's can't see them p****ing themselves laughing at this dumb cluck.
Can't you bloody jurno's make a crisis in outer Mongolia so we can get rid of Brown until AFTER the election?
Then we can have a proper spending review and a genuine fixing budget?
Brown, unashamed partisan...don't make me laugh,he couldn't give a toss about the Labour party!
It's just Brown, Brown, Brown and his fave fan Balls.
So bloody apt

TGF UKIP

The Cameron Tories have two massive handicaps. Firstly their own inability or unwillingness to mix it with Brown (look for polls showing Brown to be "stronger") and Tory hacks abject failure to get stuck into Browns broadcasting lackeys - "villager can't possibly do such a thing to a fellow villager" is no doubt their rationale.

Why should Brown and Marr change their ways when they both get such an easy and unquestioned drive.

Crooked Crocodile

The most revealing part of the interview was GB's response to the question from AM about whether we will have a budget before the election:

"Of course there'll be a Labour budget if.err.if if if if its at the right time."

He repeated the answer word for word when he was asked the question for a second time.

Surely this means that a March election is a near certainty.

Robert Williams

"I credit Brown with having enough intelligence to know that these measures are nowhere near enough to halve the deficit."

Why give him such credit? Brown is the man who could not accept that doubling the income tax rate from 10 to 20p in the £ would result in low income folk paying more tax.

Salopian

James is right. Brown has developed a very strong ability to talk over any uncomfortable question and it is unlikely that he will ever take the risk of facing any interviewer who can take him apart forensically.

One may hope that he will come unstuck in the tripartite debates but it's more than likely that the rules of engagement will make these encounters very anodyne unless .........

A great deal will hinge on Clegg. Much to my surprise he is becoming increasingly effective but has he the political insight to recognise that the future of the LibDems lies in the Tories wining enough seats to enable him to work with them?

If that were to happen then Labour (New or old ) will fragment and its soft heartlands will slip into LibDem hands.

There are early signs that Cameron can see it - but will Clegg?

So to return to the debates - a combined onslaught by Cameron and Clegg will cause irreperable damage to Brown - whatever the rules of engagement.

Amadeus Plonquer

Brown's BIG IDEA to solve his self-induced and massive national debt is to tax Andrew Marr!!!

Marr is the kind of toff who loves to swan around with an education showing off his store-bought social status and is not a hard working, working class worker like Alistair Darling. That'll play well in the country.

Al

Look at his history - he is just not numerate - look at the 10% tax fiasco.

Fergus Pickering

No chance of the Liberal Democrats working with the Tories. Some of the MPs have glimmerings of sense but their voting base is made up entirely of chattering class idiots. They vote Lib Dem to make up for being rich. Alas, it doesn't work. Being rich (relatively) is a cross we all have to bear. But they won't be persuaded. They think Lid Dem is Labour without the nastiness.

eeyore

Didn't see the interview but from what you and your correspondents say Mr Brown may claim to be the greatest Scots patriot since William Wallace. He's trashed the English economy so comprehensively it'll never recover. Revenge for Culloden!

Chuck Unsworth

@ Salopian

"So to return to the debates - a combined onslaught by Cameron and Clegg will cause irreperable damage to Brown - whatever the rules of engagement."

Yes, that's likely. More importantly, Clegg will find that his (and his party's) reputation completely trashed if he sides with Brown and his cronies. Power at any price? I think this price might be too high - even for Clegg.

If I was a Lib Dem I'd avoid the slightest chance of being associated with NuLab. It would destroy any appearance of integrity and/or decency, let alone intelligence, which I might wish to project. Then again, this is the Lib Dem Party we're considering....

D K MCGREGOR

Feed'im to P D James!

General Zod

If the LibDems were stupid enough to support a minority Labour government, the voters would not forgive them. At the next election (likely to happen within a couple of years in that eventuality), it would be obvious that the only way to get rid of Labour would be to vote Tory (it's obvious anyway to people who are not motivated primarily by europhobia and/or xenophobia).

Cuffleyburgers

Even more depressingly, Same Old Marr..."have anything else you would like to say Prime Minister" The age of deference is not as dead as the BBC would like to have us believe, at least not until after the election...

Liz Brown

Did Alastair Campbell give Marr a list of questions to be asked............

Geoff Miller

Andrew Marr's Wiki listing states:-

"He was once a member of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory. At Cambridge, Marr says he was a "raving leftie", and he acquired the sobriquet of 'Red Andy".

Given the fact that this guy is in Browns Camp why then did the BBC choose to get him to carry out the interview.

From what little I saw of the interview (sorry, but had to turn over as I feel physically sick at the mere sight and sound of Broon)it was less an interview and more like a platform for Brown to push his line.

The BBC simply doesn't comprehend its obligation to the licence payers and the Charter - it is just another partisan New Labour Quango.

Geoff Miller

Further to my previous post more on Marr:-

In October 2006 the Daily Mail claimed that Andrew Marr said: "The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities, and gay people. It has a liberal bias, not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias."

So there we have it. Look past the devious language and you see an unrepresentative organisation which is funded mainly by the people it doesn't represent or care about - the white working class, the people outside the cities.

The majority.

But where are the Tory attack dogs? Why are they not going after the BBC aggressively? They could neutralise the BBC's Labour Party bias with a raft of complaints and legal actions. Knowing that the game was up the BBC would fold like a pack of cards - however strong their political loyalties to the Left I am sure they would cling harder to their big salaries and pension funds and be terrified of what the Tories would do to them when they are elected.

The management at the BBC should be told in no uncertain terms that they must demonstrably behave impartially or face "targeted" cuts and job losses following a change of government.

The Tories will have to do a lot of "disinfestation" of the BBC, Civil Service, Local Government and Quango's when they take over.