Leading article

Brown’s fatal flaws

Wednesday, 28th November 2007

The Spectator on Gordon Brown's premiership

Mr Brown was in a uniquely strong position then because he appeared to offer change, competence and integrity. But the promise of change was undermined by the flagrant way in which Mr Brown and his ministers toyed with the electorate in September, debating where ‘the gamble’ lay when it came to calling an election. The way in which Team Brown were revealing themselves as cynical manipulators of public opinion, treating voters as counters in some sort of game, reminded voters powerfully of the sort of approach to politics which was supposed to have departed with Campbell and Mandelson. When Gordon Brown eventually decided to call off the election, cynicism was compounded by weakness. And then when he tried to maintain that his decision had nothing to do with worsening poll ratings, the impression of cynicism and weakness was reinforced by a recognition that the Prime Minister couldn’t bring himself to be honest with the British people when he came under pressure.

That fragility under pressure has been highlighted again and again since that fatal, Hamletic, moment when the Prime Minister’s resolution was sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought. The Prime Minister’s irascibility at the dispatch box, the defensiveness in his reaction to well-founded concerns from our most senior military men, the manner in which he tried to turn an apology for incompetence at the HMRC into a partisan attack on the Conservatives, all underscore that lack of breadth and ballast, that absence of strength and resilience, which a Prime Minister needs.

These weaknesses might matter less if the Prime Minister had a compelling vision, a narrative which could sustain him in office through the hard times, a reason why we should believe in him. But as his Queen’s Speech demonstrated, there is very little there. His education reforms amount to diluting Blairite radicalism while seeking to criminalise damaged teenagers whom the system has already failed. His housing reforms amount to creating two new quangos and not making the planning system any easier for those who want to build family homes. The theme of aspiration which is supposed to unite these policy areas is fatally undercut by the inept way in which the Chancellor is handling tax reform, penalising small entrepreneurs through changes to Capital Gains Tax.

There will be further dramatic twists certainly, further evolutions of the plot, further alarums and excursions before the curtain comes down, but for those of us watching the Prime Minister perform it is now clear we are witnessing a tragedy — and the bloodletting has not yet ended.

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JC

November 29th, 2007 10:57am Report this comment

It's not Hamlet by a long chalk. Surely it's Henry VI and Richard II, all 13 hours of it. At the end of the BBC version Margaret is seen laughing atop a pile of corpses with the dead Richard in her arms. Seeing Margaret re-enter No 10 was.....well, Shakespearian. I suppose the real irony is that the RSC is doing all of these plays next year....as Hamlet said, holding a mirror up to nature.

Almyers

November 30th, 2007 11:16am Report this comment

King Lear, without the nobility

Robbie

November 30th, 2007 1:22pm Report this comment

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. -- Charles Dickens (A Tale of Party Donations, 1859)

mat g

December 5th, 2007 12:01pm Report this comment

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bean-Ultimate-Disaster-Rowan-Atkinson/dp/B00005UWRX/ref=pd_bbs_8?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1196856001&sr=8-8

Nickford

December 5th, 2007 10:12pm Report this comment

It's not a disaster, it's a comedy and, for as long as it continues, the machinery of this 'statist' government will be severely hampered. Let's laugh and give thanks in the short term and work for better in the long.

Thomas Cussans

December 5th, 2007 10:36pm Report this comment

The key point about Brown is that, son of the manse or not, there is no integrity. There is only narrow party political calculation. It may have worked when he was chancellor. It transparently isn't now he is PM.

Combined with his disastrously inept public performances (which he can never change, however many deep-breathing exercises he does or however many times he practices his grisly smile) and his reliance on a narrow cabal of very nasty young thrusters, the result is an inevitable, Anthony-Eden style tragi-comedy.

His best bet is to pack it in now. He won't of course. The eventual tears will be all the more bitter.

Mr Cinders

December 5th, 2007 11:20pm Report this comment

It would be interesting to know which of your former editors was informed that Brown's career would be a 'Shakespearian tragedy': Johnson B, Johnson F, Lawson D, Moore, Chancellor, Lawson N? It has been obvious to many for quite a long time.

Madasafish

December 6th, 2007 11:30am Report this comment

It's not Hamlet.. there is nothing noble about it. More like The Simpsons without the humour.

Eats Wombats

December 6th, 2007 5:03pm Report this comment

I see we get a choice of endings. Capital!

Salvatore

December 13th, 2007 6:17pm Report this comment

I agree, and it's about time Brown was exposed.

Cameron needs to demand that Brown details in plain and easily measurable terms exactly how he is an effective prime minister, so that everyone can see that he either sets the bar for himself pitifully low, or that he fails to meet the standards he sets.

At present Cameron seems happy to let Brown avoid answering questions. If this continues, and he does not pin Brown down, people will be asking Cameron questions about his own suitability for office. That would be a pity.

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