Doing the Chancellor's work
I couldn't say I was Gordon Brown's biggest fan, and I doubt his government will be much better than Tony Blair's is now, the best that could be said is we just don't know, and it is hard to see how it would be worse. Nevertheless I think a lot of the criticism is misplaced such as that in this article and this.Charles Clarke's argument is that Brown could have ended the plotting with 'the click of his fingers'. This is risible - much like pretending the only disquiet with Mrs Thatcher was through Geoffrey Howe. It also plays into Brown's hands as an all powerful politician in total control of the Labour Party, which he is not. Also wasn't there a corpulent and useless former Home Secretary going around TV studios attacking Blair's government only a few days ago? I doubt he was following Brown's every command.
Finkelstein's argument seems to me to be the Blairite version of Thatcherite whinges - he/she must go on forever and no-one is allowed to say otherwise. This also extends to calls that Blair should have sacked Brown, which I think fail to realise that the 'staff' of a government, ie the Ministers, are not chosen as you would the staff of a cake shop. Blair didn't sack Brown out of the goodness of his Angelic heart, but because he couldn't, save perhaps immediately after his 2001 election victory. This is not a Presidential system, and the governance of the country is not his to decide alone.
Since 2003 Blair's Premiership has been pretty terrible, even if the government has been reasonably competent. Getting rid of a Prime Minister that a majority in the country, a majority of the Labour Party, and I suspect a majority of the Cabinet, want out, is long overdue. The most squalid thing is that the man is so desperate to cling to power he hasn't realised this and gone already.
posted by Matthew @ 9/08/2006 07:36:00 AM
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