Politics

It’s the week of the 60th Anniversary of the NHS.  And, to mark the occasion, the Government is today releasing the final report in Lord Darzi’s review of the health service. It’s set to be reform-minded and geared towards ending the “postcode lottery”. Early signs, though, suggest Brown’s reputation has poisoned the operation from the outset.  A YouGov poll for the Telegraph finds that only 23 percent of voters think Labour will improve the NHS over the next ten years.  That contrasts with 31 percent who think the Tories will. The poll also records an important public shift away from spending towards value and reform.  Only 24 percent of respondents

Sometimes you really do wonder if Labour’s wide-eyed Euro supporters realise just how tightly they have tied their own hands. Take Jack Straw, proposing new “emergency legislation” to allow anonymous witnesses in trials. No one seems to have mentioned the European Convention on Human Rights, which is senior to English law since our gullible MPs incorporated it in the 1998 Human Rights Act. In doing so, they handed to Strasbourg the right to decide what was a “fair trial”. Straw is understandably furious about the £6m murder case collapsing when the Law Lords said anonymous witnesses were inadmissible. As The Times pointed out, dozens more cases are now at risk.

This is the third in our series of posts looking at where it all went wrong for Gordon Brown.  The first and second are here and here, respectively. Assessing Gordon Brown’s biggest mistake is like trying to name Elton John’s worst record. There are so many to choose from. But set aside the strategic blunders – like the bungled election – and you have what I think has proved his undoing: his reliance on dodgy statistics. We call them “Brownies” here in Coffee House – statistics produced using a variety of tactics. Sometimes exaggeration, other times simple concoction. But each of them undermines his best hope of success: portraying himself