Where it all went wrong for Brown: he's never said sorry
James Forsyth 2:18am
What is most remarkable about the descent of Gordon Brown is that the voters have never even hinted at giving him a second chance. Ever since the debacle of the election that never was Brown and Labour’s ratings have moved downwards at a pretty rapid clip. We are now at a point where 74 percent of voters think he is a change for the worse from Blair and the Labour party is in some danger of being overtaken by the Liberal Democrats in the polls.
There is one very simple, overlooked reason why Prime Minister Brown hasn’t been given a second chance: he’s never asked for one. In his interview with Andrew Marr after cancelling the election or after the May Day elections where Labour recorded its worst local election results for 40 years and lost London, Brown could have said sorry and asked the public to give him another go. Instead, he has stuck stubbornly by Disraeli’s dictum: never apologise, never explain. Indeed, the only people he said sorry to in either interview were the Labour councillors who lost their seats in the local elections.
Imagine how different things might have been if in that Marr interview, Brown had said:
“Andrew, we did all get rather carried out with this idea of an early election. We were distracted by all this talk of massive poll leads and I apologise to the British public for that. I have decided against an election and it is now time for all of us in the Cabinet and the Labour party to refocus on what we were sent here to do by the Great British public: make this a stronger and fairer country. I’ll be back at my desk on Monday doing what we do best, governing for the good of the many not the few.”
Now, to be sure, Brown would still have taken a hit. But a statement like this would have helped minimise the damage.
Even after the May 1st elections, Brown had an opportunity to try and persuade the public that he was worthy of a second chance. On the Monday afterwards he could have called the main news anchors to Downing Street and given each an interview in which he explained that he had tried to run the government as he had the Treasury and it had not worked. He could have said that he knew that, he accepted that and he would now be governing in a very different style. The central message should have been:
“I have given of my best, but the British people have not seen my best. I have listened and learned and I pledge that you will now see my best. I ask you to judge me on that pledge at the next election.”
This might not have worked or have been too little, too late but it would at the very least have prepared the ground for a Brown comeback narrative. By showing contrition and vulnerability he would have eased some of the public hostility towards him, almost one in four voters give Brown 1 out of 10 when asked to rate him, and maybe even generated some sympathy and another look from some voters.
My hunch is that it is now too late for Brown to throw himself at the voters’ mercy. The public image of him as a stubborn man who refuses to admit error is probably now too firmly fixed in the public mind to be dislodged by an interview or two. Sorry might be the hardest word for Brown but it is this attitude that has left his political standing in such a sorry state as the first year of his premiership draws to a close.
Previous
Comments
crown
June 25th, 2008 6:39amI agree - add also
I'm sorry for doubling the tax on the lowest paid, for introducing retrospective green car tax, for allowing house prices to treble in 10 years, for not creating an energy policy over the last 11 years, for increasing the tax on oil exploration, for a bogus election, for having Mr & Mrs Balls in a position of responsibility, for ditching Labour values, for letting the richest get away with reduced tax, for letting the unions dictate Labour policy in return for cash to prop the party up, for crushing Frank Field all those years ago, for copying the Tories IHT policies, for losing the public's data, for introducing 42 days detention, for taxing the UK more heavily than ever before, for spending all that tax and not savig any for a rainy day, for still blaming the Tories for our problems, for thinking things are Ok if they are not as bad as under the Tories and finally for never ever answering a question with a straight answer. NEVER.
Ian London
June 25th, 2008 8:13amWhy is it that the media seems to think that Brown arrived with a 'clean slate' that was only sullied when he dithered on the election? Brown's failing was his calculated undermining of Blair, his promotion of an internecine war between the treasury and the rest of government through a cabal of trusted but ultimately limited staff, his ousting of Blair and the maneuvering that ensured a coronation 'election' to become Prime Minister.
Yes, he was given 'a chance' by the electorate, but this was on the basis that he didn't show himself to be a control freak politician who wanted power for the sake of it. Sadly for Brown, he couldn't demonstrate that he was 'the genuine article' and at the first sign of mendacity the electorate deserted him.
Michael Hargrave
June 25th, 2008 8:37am"Sorry" is an impossible word for GB as it would imply some sort of fallibility, and in his own mind he is NEVER wrong.
His hubris is never ending and ever lasting.
John
June 25th, 2008 9:33am"worst local election results for 40 years" - urban myth, I am afraid. They are actually the worst results ever.
Ian: 'media' is a plural noun.
I agree that there wasn't a clean slate, except in the minds of hacks. Any halfway attentive person could see years ago that he's made a mess of the economy, and that he is a financial illiterate.
Michael Taylor
June 25th, 2008 9:43amI suspect it would have done no good. By ducking the election, Brown confirmed the earlier suspicions that he is a coward. Now the British public can reluctantly forgive many things in their politicians - lying, stupidity, a modest amount of venality etc - but revealed cowardice is different. Cowardice in a PM is just a category error: it's something no-one would be able to come back from.
And Brown knows it - which is why he's 'written' a book on 'Courage.'
Ian C
June 25th, 2008 9:53amAbsolutely right Ian London. He was never cut out for the job whose incumbent he had ensured was destroyed by poliices Brown had been financing but distanced himself from.
It was raw and grandiose ambition rather than public service that drove him and this became openly apparent in the Autumn of 2007.
NickL
June 25th, 2008 10:18amI agree to this extent only: if Mr Brown had a different character (one which would have enabled him to admit to his faults), people would think differently about his personality. But in truth, the government's troubles stem mainly from how it has acted and from the PM's arrogance seen in the policies he has executed both as Chancellor and as PM.
Alan Phillips
June 25th, 2008 11:14amIn Sir Alan Sugers words "I don't like bullshiters and I don't like shmoozers" Gordon is both of these, time he was fired
David C
June 25th, 2008 2:06pmIt is possible to say 'sorry' and not be sincere.
Blair developed a habit for apologising for all sorts of things (some of which were none of his concern).
A lot of the words included in the fictional apologies now have a subtext in the minds of voters.
Words such as
'Listen' - the government is in trouble and the polls look bad.
'Learn' - the government is in real trouble and the polls look very bad.
'Refocus' - time to implement some of the dafter things from our manifesto.
'Pledge' - the electorate is going to suffer.
And so on and so forth.
But there are also some stock phrases;
'for the good of the many not the few' - your taxes are going up and the paperwork to claim the benefit has just doubled.
'Listen and Learn' - the decision to put gates at the end of Downing St and to stop demonstrators near Parliament were far-sighted acts.
'Do my Best' - if you're not afraid then you're living in Australia.
Words are a politician's tools in trade and politicians lie
David Hatfield
June 25th, 2008 2:20pmSince the Cabinet also drink deeply from the well of hubris no apology from them
HJ
June 25th, 2008 2:50pmNo. it's a bit more fundamental than that.
People have finally seen that he was an incompetent chancellor, not the genius he proclaimed. He could be the nicest, most genial PM ever and people would still be saying "he deceived us, he screwed everything up, so he's got to go". As Clinton said: "It's the economy, stupid"
Tina
June 25th, 2008 4:34pmBrown will never admit he was wrong about anything, it's not in his DNA. Take the 10p tax thing, even at the PLP meeting (March I think) when Labour backbenchers challenged him on the low pay losers, he reportedly banged his fists on the table and refused to acknowledge there would be ANY losers. Yet in Rawsnley's recent documentary Darling admitted he knew there would be losers as soon as he took over the Treasury and looked over the books.
Kirsty
June 25th, 2008 4:36pmBrown doesn't show empathy or any human qualities at all. In return the voters just want to kick him as hard as they can and they show no mercy. In order for someone to lead people need to have confidence in them and relate to their leader in someway.
Joey
June 25th, 2008 4:39pmJames, you have Brown all wrong. He would never say sorry in a million years. He sees it as a sign of weakness and besides he probably doesn't think he has anything to apologise for. He thinks voters just haven't realised how he is the 'right leader to make right long term decisions' etc etc.
Pamela, Merseyside
June 25th, 2008 4:45pmPeople don't have a 'connection' with Brown like they did with Blair and therefore one chance was all he was ever going to get. If he messed that up (which he has, spectacularly) that's it! I believe you make a connection with the electorate by actually winning an election in your own right. Most people think you should have to earn the right to lead this great country of ours, not just be entitled to!
Daniella
June 25th, 2008 6:14pmIt is extraordinary the way the electorate has turned against Brown. Just when you think he can't go any lower, people but the boot in even harder. For me he is just not Prime Minister material, some people aren't, he just seems unable to accept this fact. Also I don't like the way he seems to think it's his right to be Prime Minister, it's not. We have a Monarchy in the Royal family we don't need another in the form of the Labour party!
Lo
June 27th, 2008 11:10pmSorry for destroying my parent's pensions, for making them pay for medical care because they would have to wait five years (difficult if you're nearly 70). Sorry for the lost generation of badly educated binge drinking children, sorry for the part time defence minister, sorry for selling our gold at at all time low (and telling the market about it in advance!) I could go on but I'd get RSI.