When did the moral crusade turn into a plateful of Brownies?
Fraser Nelson 5:50pm
Gordon Brown must have been at his happiest in Opposition, delivering sermons about how Labour would deliver employment to cure the Tories’ wicked devil-take-the-hindmost approach. In launching the New Deal in Feb98, he had this to say: “Young people are our future. Yet unemployment among the under-25s is twice the national average”. It was true then. But the OECD data flagged up by David Willetts shows it is now a shameful four times the national average. Ten years ago, Brown called the unemployed young people “Major’s children.” Major, of course, had a recession to contend with – last year, after a decade of growth, youth unemployment rose above the level Brown inherited. So whose children are the NEETS? Success, as the saying goes, has many fathers.
I genuinely believe this Son of the Manse originally saw a moral aspect to tackling unemployment – hence his pious “Where There's Greed” book and his appalling quoting of the Bible against the Tories in his conference speech last year. I’d love to know at what stage he decided to sell out. That instead of reducing joblessness for real, he would fiddle statistics to make it look as if he had. I suspect immigration took him by surprise, that he suddenly saw the opportunity to misrepresent this as his creating jobs – and decided to go for the Brownie instead of the mission. Remember, 2.6m of his ”3m new jobs” went to (or were created by) immigrants. Strip away pensioners returning to work and the public sector and you’d have no new jobs at all. Which, during ten years of economic expansion, takes quite some doing.
Previous
TrevorH
July 21st, 2008 6:12pm Report this commentA good point - 'delivering sermons'.
He's been at it again today in Israel. He was at it a while ago sermonising to the Kennedy clan - they would lap it up.
Brown is of course a moralising self righteous humbug. A miserable incompetent moralising self righteous humbug.
Ray
July 21st, 2008 6:19pm Report this commentFraser, never understimate this Government's ability to make an absolute pig's ear of even the most simple task.
fulcanelli
July 21st, 2008 6:31pm Report this comment'Which, during ten years of economic expansion, takes quite some doing.'
Not if you're Gordon Brown and New Labour.
Their incompetence gets worse by the day!!
Austin Barry
July 21st, 2008 6:34pm Report this commentIt must be horrible to be Brown: to look in the mirror and see a man who has sold himself and his country out, who has failed appallingly in the one job he ever wanted, who is detested by the electorate and personifies abject failure. There is nothing left for him now but to be defenestrated by his party or escorted from Downing Street to howls of execration from the people he has betrayed.
CS
July 21st, 2008 6:35pm Report this commentIt's the problem with so much of the Left, Frasier. "Good intentions" are everything for them.
They think that saying that they think X is appalling is enough. Because, at the end of the day, politics for much of the Left is more about managing their own consciences than managing the country.
And that's the heart of why they hated Margaret Thatcher. it wasn't that they thought her policies were harsh (they wre quite happy to cheer Brown crapping on those in the 10p tax band). It wasn't that they thought she was too reactionary (Blunkett was the most righyt wing Home Secretary in memory). All those things they could have forgiven as they have done since 1997. Her great crime was omitting to make hypocritically soothing noises.
If only she'd told everyone that nothing was their fault and chosen hot air over hard choices, the Left would be chipping in for her state funeral in their droves.
Dave B
July 21st, 2008 8:11pm Report this comment"I suspect immigration took him by surprise"
I think Labour deliberately increased non-EU immigration in an attempt to gerrymander to Labour's favour.
Emma
July 21st, 2008 8:45pm Report this commentFraser, thank God we have you to expose him. Keep up the excellent journalism. I agree with conserativehomes descrition of you as Britain's best centre right commentator.
David C
July 21st, 2008 9:01pm Report this commentDave B:
I'm not sure it is as simple as that. Brown is a student of politics and a political student. He wanted, and still wants to make changes - irreversible changes and to do that he had to break down social cohesion to get mobility.
He would use mass importation of foreign workers as one of the weapons against what he saw as 'reactionary' aspects of British culture (culture is used here in its loosest meaning). Any group that objected would be self-defining and could be branded as racist or 'xenophobes' by the claque in the media, and so any serious discussion of the merits or otherwise of such a social experiment would be aborted.
That electoral benefits would accrue to NuLabour would be a welcome byproduct, but a 'new society' (shades of the 'New Soviet Man')where any change is possible, would be the chief aim.
Athesius the Facilitator
July 21st, 2008 9:08pm Report this commentPardon me for being a big head about this but my long suffering wife would confirm that I understood what Brown and Blair where up to 10 years ago when I constantly brow beat her on the subject of immigration and job figure massage. In fact I brow beat her on loads of other shinnanigans that they were up to as well. Why did you all (the press) take so long to realise that what they where getting up to in government was bad for the long term good of this country.
Pete, Scotland
July 21st, 2008 11:26pm Report this commentWas the moral crusade anything other than shallow political point scoring to demonise his opponents?
Where is the evidence otherwise?
Nicholas
July 22nd, 2008 8:10am Report this commentAthesius - you were not alone but it's a good question. Some of us saw right through the New Labour project from Day One. Are there any journalists who are on the record for same?
David C - excellent point about the dangerous reality of Brown's anti-reactionary position. He has the characteristics of a soviet-style dictator and the mission-impossible attempts of his spinners to popularise Brand Brown just reinforce that impression. For all the references to the worst of Labour Past, I fear that it is Labour Present who have done the most and lasting damage to our society.
John Backhouse
July 22nd, 2008 12:52pm Report this commentIt's easy to say I know but I knew they were wrong uns when they said "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". That was 1994. Do I win anything? A tenner would be nice to offset madly rising costs.
Back to top