42-days: the fallout
The Skimmer 10:38am
The point of all those bribes was so Gordon Brown could wake up to headlines after the 42 days vote saying "principled Prime Minister holds firm to his principles and wins a knife-edge gamble." Instead, he is today pilloried - and most harshly by his own side.
"Desperate Brown scrapes through" says the Guardian, quoting Dianne Abbott saying it was a “grubby bazaar”. Just how grubby is shown by the Daily Mail which names those concessions. “Winner or Loser?” asks The Independent’s front page and editorial argues for the latter (“A victory that only exposes Mr Brown’s weakness”). The Mirror’s spread says simply “Day of Shame”. The Times’ leader says simply “Westminster for Sale” saying this horse trading will only further lower the public’s opinion of British politics.
The only good write-up was in The Sun which has emphatically backed the 42 days. A lap-of-honour press conference is due at 10.30am today, where it seems Mr Brown will see more brickbats that bouquets thrown at him.
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John
June 12th, 2008 11:17am Report this commentDianne Abbott saying it was a “grubby bazaar” -
ROFL. The hypocrite Dianne Abbott, the revolting so-and-so who huffs and puffs about people who send their children to private schools - but sends her children to private schools? We'll take lessons in ethical behaviour from HER???!!!
Nicholas
June 12th, 2008 1:01pm Report this commentI watched Brown at his press conference today and was deeply disturbed by the rather triumphant and sinister smile he gave whenever he was asked a "difficult" question and ostentatiously wrote down the name (?) of the journalist who was asking it. What was that all about? A private telephone call or a 6 a.m. swoop under the "terror laws" (e.g. the Labour laws imposed to terrorise the population)?
None of these difficult questions were properly answered by him.
As I continued to watch I became more convinced that his personality is flawed, if not actually deranged. His demeanour and speech smacked of arrogant dictator rather than prime minister in parliament. I failed to detect any humility or humanity and the humour, what little there was, seemed inappropriate and distinctly creepy. There is absolutely no common touch.
I also noticed an increasing desire to control and manipulate the media. There were several comments by Brown about this, little hints of wanting the media only to report what he wants them to and it was a theme repeated by Bradshaw on the Daily Politics.
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