There is something unnerving about seeing Gordon Brown smile so much on television. Yesterday he saddled the British public with more debt than any peacetime Prime Minister – taking a massive gamble with money the public haven’t even earned yet.
What’s he got to smile about? Well he believes that he has finally moulded the crisis into a party political weapon and whacked David Cameron with it. There is now plenty of polling evidence that the crisis is playing into his hands. Just three weeks ago, the Tories had a 17 point lead on economic competence (YouGov/Telegraph). After more news cycles dominated by the financial crisis this had narrowed to 3 per cent (ICM/Guardian) and in the marginal seats it’s a 7 point lead (ICM/News of the World).
Brown will be hoping that yesterday’s bailout, a critical success in every British newspaper, will erase his reputation as a ditherer and reinforce his core proposition of being the best man in a crisis. The weekend newspapers may well being confirmation of this. Given that concern about the UK economy is now at its highest since MORI started its polling series in 1974 this matters a lot. So yes, the economic crisis is playing into Brown’s hands. But the bailout is directly linked to bad debt, ergo jobs and homes are being lost. What is bad for the public may well be good for Brown at the moment. But the Prime Minister would do well to conceal his glee.
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