The spectator’s notes

24 November 2007

Charles Moore's thoughts on the events of the week

Gordon Brown sat next to poor, trembling Alistair Darling on the government front bench on Tuesday for the Chancellor’s statement on the loss of 25 million people’s personal details. He had failed to do the same the day before, when Mr Darling made a statement about Northern Rock. The contrast between his absence one day and his presence the next emphasised the scale of the disaster on Tuesday. Despite his protestations when he came into office, Mr Brown has little respect for the Commons, or for Cabinet government. He is very keen on power, but not very good at leadership. In our system, the Prime Minister shouldn’t aspire to run everything. What he can do is to inspire his colleagues and to back them in difficulty. Mr Brown wants everything in his grasp — hence his amalgamation of Revenue with Customs when he was Chancellor, and his incorporation of both within the Treasury — and colleagues with no independent existence. Poor Mr Darling is highly unusual in modern history in being a Chancellor who has no political importance at all. Denis Healey, Geoffrey Howe, Nigel Lawson, Ken Clarke and, of course, Mr Brown himself, all mattered in their own right. Even John Major and Norman Lamont had some independent standing. You have to go back to Tony Barber under Ted Heath to find the unauspicious analogue for Mr Darling.

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