Lucky Gordon
- 23 May 07, 05:25 PM
All leaders need luck and our future leader's just got lucky.
The long wait for him to move next door in Downing Street is protecting him and the government from the worst consequences of an extraordinary series of ministerial cock-ups. Since everyone knows a change is coming the impact of them - both individually and as a whole - has been diminished.
Imagine just for a moment if today's no confidence motion in the Health Secretary had come at any other time. The question would have been asked insistently - can Patricia Hewitt survive? I can find no-one who believes she'll still be in charge of the NHS in a few weeks time so today's debate takes on a certain ritualistic quality.
Or think about how yesterday's U-turn on Home Improvement Packs might have played?
And what about the revelation that the new secretary of state for justice only learnt about the creation of his new department from a newspaper report and was still in dispute with the most senior judges in the land?
The much talked of "stable and orderly transition" has sucked all the tension out of the air in the Westminster village.
Could that be why ministers are getting as many awkward announcements out of the way as possible before the great transition. Witness this week's politically tricky announcements on nuclear power, planning and road pricing.
This is not so much burying bad news as getting all of it out of the way whilst no-one much cares. Has Gordon Brown been lucky or is he proving the truth of that old cliche that you make your own luck?
