Whatever you may think about Gordon Brown, he does deserve to be recognised as a master of his art. I can’t think of a more accomplished confidence trickster ever to enter Westminster. And he’s ready to unveil a whole Potemkin Village tomorrow, the climax of his life’s work. It will be built out of non-sequiteurs, exaggerations, half-truths and Brownies. His interview on the BBC1 Politics Show gave a preview as to how he will conduct himself. He is in full election mode, talking as if he’s in the heat of an election campaign—which, in his head, he is. Here’s my take:-
2) “That has now spread to become not just a financial crisis, but an economic crisis”. This is his SARS virus narrative, utterly fake. Britain has an economic crisis because Brown knowingly pumped the British economy full of under-priced debt, leaving us the biggest household borrowing (178% of income) any G7 country has ever seen. And we’re supposed to blame America for the fact that credit supply choked. The UK is now due the worst recession in Europe due to the recklessness of Brown’s policies.
3) “The case that we have got to face is do you take action now to avoid permanent damage later” This is his fake political dividing line: Labour=action, Tories=Do Nothing. We will hear this time and time again this week.
4) “Not to act is both irresponsible is uncaring.” Crucially, he is widening his attack on Cameron here, attempting to reprise the “same old Tories” line that Blair wouldn’t let him use. He does this by trying to draw a line between Cameron opposing the splurge and the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s. This is the party that thinks “unemployment is a price worth paying” he said later. Of course, what is uncaring is to engineer the economy until families are relying on debt – horribly exposed to any crunch in that market. He’s very lucky the Tories can’t make this point.
5) “All around Europe different countries are talking about what they would do.” Again, crucial to his message: this is an international crisis, is nae my fault. PLUS: I’m a statesman, a financial messiah. You can destroy this in a couple of sentences: why is Britain more exposed than anyone else? Who else is looking at a deficit of 10 percent of GDP? Britain is the worst-prepared for this crisis, so few will listen to bungling Brown. They look at the way he’s managed the UK public accounts and think “there but for the grace of God” or “thank God this basket case economy isn’t in the Euro”.
6) “Gospel of despair” – this is what he says the Tories have. Note how this Son of the Manse uses Biblical language when he wants to get all pious. It reminds me of that line in his conference speech saying words to the effect of ‘Jesus never said ‘bring me just some of the Children’ implying – a disgusting implication, if you ask me – that the Tories thought this.
7) “The Conservative idea is do nothing now, leave people to face the storm, refuse to help them.” Note the simplicity of Brown’s message, he hammers it like a machine. Relentlessly, ruthlessly, no matter what question is asked, he bulldozes through his fake dividing lines and his misrepresentation of the Tory position. Getting his version of the Tory message across is, to him, as important as getting his own message across – if not, more so.
8) “We will do something that was never done in the 1980s and 1990s and that’s help people stay in jobs” – again, at every turn, he peddles myths about the Bad Old Tory Days. Talks about 15% interest rates (three times in that interview) whereas real (ie, inflation-adjusted) interest rates now and then are comparable. For him, it’s the 1980s all over again.
9) “Can we get banks lending back to the levels of 2007?” How about asking: should we? Wasn’t excess debt, um, the root problem? Deplorably, Brown is seeking to revive the credit bubble as if it can be a horn of plenty spewing out more borrowed Arab/Chinese money.
10) “We’ve got to lead the world out of these problems” Britain is literally leading the world into recession, mass unemployment and property price collapse. That’s why we’ve had the worst devaluation against the dollar since 1954. It’s simply breathtaking to hear him talk like this, when the reverse is the truth. By the way, full marks to Jon Sopel, who – rarely for a BBC presenter – decided he would not let Brown mislead his viewers about Tory proposals when he came in air to discuss his ideas. “David Cameron hasn’t said that, has he? He says there should be a freeze on council taxes, there were proposals he made to help unemployed”. Sopel also tried to stop Brown repeating himself, and pointed out that Northern Rock was offering 125% mortgages. Brown, of course, ignored this.
As Brown knows, narratives in politics don’t have to have much truth in them to succeed. Bu they do have to be clear and forcefully delivered. He used this interview to repeat his lines, over and over. If you’re brazen enough (and he is) you can carry it off. Brown today showed us a detailed, well-argued, high-octane narrative ready to roar. He has his soundbites, his battle lines, his fake parameters and his fake statistics (though it was surprising to hear him forget to claim we have low debt). He is a master at work . If he gives it enough gusto, the media will go with him. It’s worked before.
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