Now Gordon Brown has to live with himself

Monday, 15th February 2010

It's not hard to see why the Prime Minister opted for a soft interview with Piers Morgan as his latest attempt to relaunch himself with the British public. Forget that he said he wasn't the kind of politician who used his family as political props (always a daft thing for someone in public life to say). The Life Stories show is perfect format for the purposes of the celebrity-politician, designed to reveal only that which the guest carefully intends to share with the public. It is anti-journalism. All the pre-briefing and carefully-managed reaction was designed to leave all control in the hands of the invitee. This is particularly true of the moment of supposed loss of control - "the weep". The whole package is demeaning to everyone concerned.
The question during the faux-expectation in the run-up to the broadcast was "will it work?" - i.e will the performance turn the polls around or persuade people on the doorstep that Gordon is not a cream-faced loon. Considering the fact that Piers Morgan counts himself as a personal friend of the Browns and ITV did everything in its power to make the PM look his best, it would be staggering if this piece of gratuitous puffery didn't have some effect.
In reality, it is the 21st century equivalent of those old-style deferential interviews where government ministers were invited to share their wisdom with the nation. In this case, Morgan effectively said: "Prime Minister, is there something you would care to emote about at this point?"
On the face of it, Brown couldn't lose here. In fact, he has lost considerable self-respect. If the interview succeeds in boosting his personal rating, what does he do next time there is a dip? And if it makes no difference, he has sold his soul for nothing.

Susan Hill's moving and eloquent take on this issue can be found here.

Filed under: Deference (1 more articles) , Election 2010 (599 more articles) , Gordon Brown (918 more articles) , Labour in Crisis (77 more articles) , Piers Morgan (4 more articles) , Politics (UK) (76 more articles)

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Bruce, UK

February 15th, 2010 8:55am Report this comment

A Soul, he has a Soul?

SUSAN HILL

February 15th, 2010 9:06am Report this comment

I am appalled. As I blogged myself last week, using all of this in political broadcasts at this time is cheap and the public can see right through it. What relevance is the death of a child to the financial mess he has got us into and the sleaze among politicians and the unemployment figures and and and.. absolutely none but throw even your dead infant into the equation if you think it will keep you in power. It disgusts.

Frank P

February 15th, 2010 11:50am Report this comment

Bruce UK

"A Soul, he has a Soul?"

A-Soul? He is an A-Soul! And a clinkered one to boot. And may the Nation's size 12 boot be thrust at least four lace-holes up it on May 6th, or sooner if he pulls any more nauseating strokes like that nauseating Campbell/Morgan/Dianafication circus. Was it that they thought that the Nation has now been so comprehensively pussified that they could get away with such stunts, or was it simply because they KNOW it to be the case. I fear the latter.

Ian C

February 15th, 2010 6:31pm Report this comment

As I have said on the main page, the whole thing was pathetic. Mainly because it revealed him as some sort (of extrenely dull) human being who clearly has no ambition to be anything more. Not the sort of bloke to get us out of the **it he has got us into.

It will take much more than humanity to lead this country in the next few years.

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