A bully surrounded by cowards

It is not just the revelations about Gordon Brown’s bullying behaviour towards his staff which mark him out as a failed leader; it is his hypocrisy.

It is not just the revelations about Gordon Brown’s bullying behaviour towards his staff which mark him out as a failed leader; it is his hypocrisy. No government in history has committed itself so firmly to standing up for suffering employees and, as Rod Liddle points out on page 19, this noble aim has often resulted in overbearing legislation. We have had employment acts which make it an offence for a boss not to make allowance for people’s desire to pray at work, and laws which forbid firms from advertising for a ‘postboy’ on the grounds that it might discriminate against women and older people. We have had anti-bullying helplines and whistleblower schemes. Employers found by a tribunal to have failed to stop bullying face huge compensation payouts. And there is more to come: the government has made a priority before this parliament is out of passing Harriet Harman’s Equality Bill, which will place onerous new demands on employers; requiring them, for example, to carry out ‘equal pay audits’ to prove that they are not inadvertently discriminating against staff.

Yet for all this bossiness about bullying, the PM himself appears to see no reason to treat his own staff with respect. This week’s non-denial denials about his behaviour merely draw attention to the allegations which have not been refuted: the foul-mouthed shouting and the claim that he removed a secretary from her chair and took over at the keyboard because he considered she wasn’t typing fast enough. Brown’s inability to control himself in the office is worrying not just because it reflects badly on his character, but because it is symptomatic of a wider loss of control — not least of the public finances.