Et tu, Jackie?

Ian C

This is the knife entering between the shoulder blades. How many more will it take to push it in further? Not many. But it may take a month or more.

Howard

See Bruce Anderson in today's Indy for examples of Brown's personality. He is not fit to be PM.

Austin Barry

Fear of Brown's temper? Surely even the over-promoted twits in the Cabinet are not that supine. When confronting Brown they should try to imagine him as an absurd figure on, say, a rocking-horse, or wearing his tan beach jacket.

Thomas Cussans

It is consistently odd that intimates of Brown such as Ashley always refer to Brown's inherent decency yet seem to see no contradiction between this and reports of his tantrums.

Brown the bully foaming at the mouth with incoherent rage like a toddler in a supermarket rings infinitely more true than Brown the 'decent' man.

A kind of gigantic four-year-old really.

Chuck Unsworth

Who is Ms Ashley married to? Can we expect the BBC to echo her views?

Ted Tedford

"Uncorrupt". The fact that this is included in a list of his virtues is a useful comment on our modern political class.

AlanofEngland

Brown "highly intelligent"....really? And not one ounce of common sense...but then show me any labour politician with any?

David

AoE, quite. Brown has managed to run with this 'I'm really clever' line for far too long. And his reasoning for it is that he got really good grades at school. There's precious little evidence that he's intelligent when it comes to the ways of the world beyond the school gates.

Rob

...any delegation of men in grey suits would be told to go away...

So send in the men in white coats armed with a tranquilizer gun.

Oscar

I'm beginning to think the 'decent and intelligent' meme keeps cropping up because of the Brown rage. Even when sticking the knife in the commentariat invariably do it with a few phoney compliments chucked in to ward off, it would seem, potential Brown tantrums. There's certainly ample evidence he doesn't have an ounce of emotional intelligence. As for any other kind of cleverness - that seems to be a mix of a certain academic showiness that has been useless when it comes to running the country combined with ruthless ambition. Nothing public spirited or decent about it.

Tiberius

I heard a good one yesterday. Harridan apparently said world statesmen ring Brown asking for advice. I bet they won't own up, whoever they are.

Personally, I wouldn't even ask Brown for directions to Scotland for fear of getting my tax code reduced.

JONNY

Put my shirt on it there is one Labour MP who will never let Him down. While everyone else has shuffled along Quentin Davies will still be proudly sitting there in his elegant pinstripe suit. Firm as a rock. A smile of wonderment and adoration still frozen on his patrician lips.
Et Tu Quentin? - it's not going to happen mates.

Pete Hoskin

Link to Ashley's article now added.

Canon Alberic

I have a friend whose partner was a very senior civil servant who had worked with both Blair and Brown.

Two years ago this person recounted how they and their colleagues loved Tony who, sincere or not, was charming and consistent and skillful; but they absolutely hated Brown "the temperature drops when he walks into the room" who they described as a rude, arrogant bully with a cadre of nasty sycophantic career destroying henchpersons. They were all planning exits to private sector sinecures when the regime changed.

At the time I thought it was traihson des clercs but now these terrible "psychological flaws" are everyones problem!

I suspect he's even more of a mess (and without the resources of personality) than Eden at Flemings house in November 1957.

Guardianista

When the worms turn....

Austin Barry

Tiberius, I suspect that Harperson was mistakenly thinking of Brown's call to Mugabe for some advice on effective election strategies and tactics for use in 2010.