The Myth of Gordon Brown the Eternal Battler

Self-delusion is an important skill in politics. If you can’t convince yourself that what you’re saying is true then good luck with convincing the electorate. Among Gordon Brown’s difficulties is the unfortunate truth that he’s not an accomplished liar. So, for instance, when he tells Andrew Marr this morning that

“Everything I have ever won in my life I have had to fight for.”

voters can be excused finding this preposterous. True, Brown’s eye-troubles and his battles to help modernise the Labour party have been struggles, but within the context of his own upbringing and political history, Brown’s as much an establishment figure as, in his own very different way and in a different sense, David Cameron. Brown’s childhood was a privileged one in the context of Kirkcaldy and being a Son of the Manse (to say nothing of his own hot-housed education).