The political marketplace
Sell. Sell Browns. Sell them now. The message coming from the political trading floor couldn't be clearer. Shares in the prime minister are falling about as fast as shares once did in Northern Rock.
Staff working for Brown and Company are said to be revolting - ministers are reported to have been threatening to punch one another, MPs to have defied the boss to his face and his own team don't get along. That new man in PR - Carter's the name - has been upsetting the old guard who don't like who he's hired and fired and don't know what on earth he knows about their business anyway.
What's more, the shareholders - for the purpose of this extended metaphor, that's you and me - are soon to get a chance to vote on how things are going (at least you are if you live in the large parts of England and all of Wales where there are soon to be local elections). In the political marketplace, the results have already been discounted. Thus, the buyers and sellers of political fortunes have already begun to discuss what will happen WHEN not IF Labour loses. And thus, the papers are already filling with talk of stalking horses and runners and riders for a leadership race which has not and, almost certainly will not, begin.
This frenzy of gossip and speculation in the political marketplace is, of course, being driven by the mood in the REAL marketplace which is reeling from what's now officially described as "the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression". The gloomier the economic news has become, the more Brown's ratings have slid and the more the talk of a crisis for him has grown.
And how has he responded? With a massive gamble. Gordon Brown is betting his house - or at least the one he currently occupies at No 10 - on his belief that things aren't as bad as they seem or as many predict they will be. As evidence, he points to last week's little reported prediction by the IMF that even though economic growth will slow in Britain, it will be higher than in all the other industrialised economies. He believes that there's time between now and the next time voters get to choose a government to be proved right and that those who've gambled on bust following boom will, once again, be proved wrong.
And, who knows, he may well be right but he may, also, be too late. For in the political world, just as in the financial, markets can take on a life of their own. Or, as one senior cabinet figure put it to me, "the danger we face is that we are just too damaged to recover". Even Gordon Brown's own allies are now restlessly waiting for him to do something to halt the slide. Imminent and avoidable rows on and will hardly help. They will not wait for ever.
PS. I'm heading to America today to report on a vital week for the prime minister who'll be having talks with the bankers of Wall Street on the reform of the international finance system; at the UN on what to do next about Zimbabwe; at the White House about the economy, Iraq and Iran; with the contenders to replace George Bush and he'll be delivering an important lecture on his approach to foreign policy.
I'm 
Comments
There are two sides to this debate; one is Brown himself and the other is the economy.
Brown has clearly demonstrated after nine months of bungling and ten years before that of disloyalty that he is not up to the job. Issues of flawed character are now plain for all to see - he needs to make way for someone else before irreparable damage is done to the country.
In the case of the economy; while the damage has been done by Brown's reckless spending splurge the answer will not come from a student essay written by one of his acolytes. Banks need to raise fresh capital as highlighted several times by Hank Paulson in the US. They can't ignore their perilously low equity Tier I ratios any longer. Banks' expectations of a system bail out are proving to be unrealistic; they need to put their own houses in order.
As for Brown's trip to the US - running away again, Gordon?
Brown and his nodding dogs are living in a fool's paradise, like Nero watching Rome burn , Brown is presiding over a situation he has totally lost control of.His party know it but being men (and women) of principle will not rock the boat in case they lose their place at the Westminster trough. I fear we will be aflicted with this incompetent government until they are forced by time to call an election. Sadly by that time the damage done to this country will be approaching the irreversible.We will be as deeply in debt as we were after the Attlee government and the Wilson/Foot/Callaghan governments. We will be sinking under a tide of immigrants and workshy and only desperately painful action will cure the problem Labour is creating.
So its "Crisis, what crisis?"
Sounds familiar?
I am enjoying every second of the decintegration of the reputation Gordon had cleverly managed to create without having anything to back it up with
I am enjoying his chickens coming home to roost, as he was only too willing to take the credit when the sun was shining but when the weather turns he is trying to blame everybody else but himself.
He has nowhere to hide now he has finally gotten the job he wanted as all eyes are on him as the leader, yet he isn't leading events but following them, not the signs of a leader.
When the times are good people don't mind a little extrra tax as they believe it to be going to the right places and hey, i can afford a little extra. When it turns the other way people are more inquisitive of where their money is being spent and why, they are not liking what they are seeing, that is a major reason for all the hoo haa about MP's expenses that have started to surface recently
Gordon will also find his fiddling of the numbers and inflation figures may have concerned those in Industry etc but not the ordinary voter, as the 'i'm all right jack' mentallity prevailed but now that prices are rising by 10 - 20% since this time last year, they are starting to take notice and are seeing that the 'official' inflation figure of 2% just isn't based in the reality of day to day life. They see that items like bread are not included but dvd players are, you can survive without dvd players and don't but a new one every day but you do a loaf of bread so how can that be right they wonder
They are also seeing straight through the "global warming" so we must raise taxes scam that is being inflicted upon them. Again, when things were good people don't mind paying extra but do when they are not. The treasury know that "green taxes" are a scam as there is a document on their website that quite clearly states that due to solar cycles global temperatures will FALL 1.5C by 2020, not rise.
Don't believe me, check it out for yourselves.
But the main reason why Gordon is in serious trouble is that he doesn't seem to understand that people are hurting out there, being chucked out of their homes, having to go without food and heating because they can no longer afford it, having to become unemployed because they can no longer afford to travel to work and back. Peoples quality of life is disappearing rapidly and he has nothing to offer them as either a solution or an idea to improve things
All he could come up with in the sycophantic interview you did with him Nick was to go into "tractor production" mode as I call it, listing reams of useless numbers and statistics that mean nothing to ordinary people and most don't believe a word of them even if they did
Labour are rightly heading for oblivion and they have nobody to blame but themseleves
The most worrying thing is that I don't see a Thatcher on the horizon to whip this country back into shape.
Brown was always a bean counter, a backroom boy who didn't recognise presentational his limitations. Whatever one thinks of Blair, Brown's relentless obstruction and envy of him damaged Labour and revealed Brown's small mindedness. Under Brown we have a huge civil service tinkering and measuring away which distrusts everyone. People who once worked for the love of the job are now paid or measured in their every move by a swathe of unnecessary - and expensive - civil servants. Even they get bonuses which they never required before. The professionals have reacted by charging for every move and minute of their time which they previously worked for free - vide the doctors, for example. Civil rights have been eroded and waste lands of laws have been passed to flatter every whim of the Red Tops. Taxes have been sneaked up and money wasted on dumped computer systems etc. Just wait to folk realise what a ruinous mess they are making of our legal aid system! Labour has been a disaster and I regret voting them in. And all that before I even get to our over-population problem. Anyone tried squeezing onto the tube recently?
Spot on Nick. The country has woken up to the fact that, during his career as Chancellor, Brownalmost singly-handed destroyed the legacy of a dynamic low(ish) tax economy left by the last Tory administration, and replaced it with a debt-fuelled tax-and-squander bureaucracy. Pay-back time is coming !
Gordon Brown is a bit like Ken Livingstone. Once upon a time I actually respected both of them, although didn't always agree with what they had to say. They appeared principled (but by the samer token, such people incline towards anti-libertarian strategies; they're so principled, they see no other way of thinking as ever being right). Power and the overriding objective of hanging onto it is now their undoing. Anything goes. The reduction of the basic rate of tax to 20% was interesting and both Brown and Darling smiled in smug satisfaction at the discomfort of the Tories upon the announcement; the problem is that it was funded by the loss of the 10% rate; the answer that those affected can claim more in benefits (and thus State-dependent) is frankly crazy. Who really knows where it will all end up? But one only had to see the current account deficit for the past number of years to know that the economy is fragile to the point of a 0.25% movement in the base rate. With a propensity to mislead with dodgy statistics, I'm just reminded of Corporal Jones in Dad's Army as everything is going to pot: don't panic! With Darling easily pictured as Fraser, Brown as the ill-tempered Warden and Balls as Private Walker, will it take Straw as Sergeant Wilson to bring it all back from the brink?
Maybe Brown is in trouble, but seriously... who else is there? About the only Labour politician that the public respect is Ken Livingstone, although he may be looking for a new job soon, I suppose.
"Gordon Brown is betting his house ... on his belief that things aren't as bad as they seem or as many predict they will be"
And it's that strategy that makes him seem completely out of touch with vast swathes of the country. Why not go the opposite route, empathise that many families will be hard-up and going through difficult times and assure them he is working hard to mitigate this with the Chancellor.
He is seen to acknowledge the problem and seems in touch with voters. Instead he just fires out his usual platitudes about "long-term stability, the right decisions, right long-term decisions" then wanders off to appear on American Idol (yes he did, it's true!)
In fact there re so many things wrong with this PM, it's hard to know where to start. If he's losing Polly Toynbee in her latest column, you know it's bad.
Nick, you say "what is now officially described as 'the worst financial crisis since The Great Depression" '.
Although I do agree with the analysis (We really went into recession way back in 2000, due to an outrageous asset bubble, and bought time by the suicidal expedient of pumping the bubble further with unjustifiable cheap credit ) who is "officially" describing this as the New Great Depression ? Surely not Messers Brown or Darling, or Mr Bernake, who knows 1929 as well as anyone on earth ?
Given houses are twice, or even three times, the price they should be relative to incomes, North Sea Oil production has dropped from 4.5M to 3M barrels a day (as prices shoot up) and the only moneymaking part of the UK economy (The Financial Markets) are in the process of losing credibility (and hence business) for a decade, it is more likely utter financial armageddon, especially for the UK.
My problem with your quote is, given everyone involved (e.g. Banks and estate agents on house prices) have tried to say the inevitable will not happen until it already is, who in officialdom is being so bold as to declare a "readjustment" to be a Great Depression ? Or were you being flexible with your quotes.. which seems unlikely from you.
Even if the worst does not come to pass through some miracle or other, the taste left in the population's mouth by this Labour government will be too foul to sustain them.
The trouble is, after 11 years in power, people feel worse, more pessimistic and unsafe. That can only point to failure. Too much manipulation of perception and distortion of fact have left the nation feeling cheated and misled.
It looks like the knives are coming out. Labour MPs must be worried now, because they know that the part could be obliterated come the next general election. They cannot rely on Scotland any longer, since the SNP are now gaining support and the Conservatives will never really be popular up here.
But why for once can he not admit that there are problems instead of saying that everything will be alright?
In what capacity will Bottler be attending the talks with the bankers of Wall Street?
Will it be as Britain's (unelected) PM, or as owner of the Northern Rock Bank?
Chameleon Bottler once more.
Essentially, this nation is terrible trouble and that is the upshot of the whole miserable situation.
The issue here isn’t competence of Gordon Brown. It’s clear to any rational analysis that Brown is not to blame for the current crisis. The UK has a very open economy which means that dramatic changes such as these experienced do impact the nation. The notion that people are being evicted in droves & are starving because they can’t afford food is very wide of the mark. Let’s just say that if these were the case, the news media have struggled to find it.
Where Brown can be found fault with is his dithering – over an early election, Northern Rock etc. In fact I can’t recall a significant decision since he became PM where he hasn’t dithered. Sadly he isn’t up to the job.
My concern is that the alternative party (the Tories) simply are not capable. Cameron comes across is an awfully nice chap, but I wouldn’t trust him to tell me the correct time. And as for Osborne, well the less said the better. At best they are opportunistic. Rather I would prefer that they provide a real alternative based on an identifiable ideology & thought through policies.
The election is going to be a damned hard decision to make my mind up on.
Many commentators stated that Brown seems to have 'no ideas'.
However, I think that that perfectly captures the political situation the English are in.
We English are being lead by a politician from another country, namely Scotland, who, obviously, would have no ideas about the English!
Politics is supposed to abhor a vacuum but that is exactly where we English are right now.
We English do so need somebody to take an interest in politics and step forward.
"Staff working for Brown and Company are said to be revolting"
Always thought they were!
You would think from the government spin on the EMF anouncement, that the UK ecconomy will be growing faster than Europes...
But thats not what the EMF said!
There are some interesting analogies here: linking popularity with share value, and voters as buyers and sellers in elections where stock is traded; but Nick, is this an accurate reflection of the way the electors view democracy or is it a disservice to civic duty in Britain?
There are perhaps two issues here, one is the treatment of citizens as consumers by the parties and the media. While interesting and not for the consumption by the news audiences, your metaphors seem to reflect observations that voters/citizens are passive, reactive and contributing to politics only through polling data and the ballot box. This can reinforce this behaviour and maintain audiences and reactors rather than participants. More importantly perhaps is the nature of democracy in Britain. While we can all say that participation is facilitated more than it ever was it reaches a small minority, few seem to be part of the new Web 2.0 democracy in reality. So the only chance to participate is a vote that may have little effect on the outcome and is unlikely to because at the local elections seats remain uncontested or so safe there is little point in making the effort.
But that does not make us consumers as consumers have choice. Perhaps what we are witnessing is not the rules of the marketplace filtering into politics but some of the attitudes, when there is no choice but two or three tarnished brands the product sector is ignored and alternative purchases are made: hence the shift from party politics to issue and cause based activism or transferring political ideologies to the consumer marketplace where we are seen to have power. When there is no perceiving benefit from participating, or from government actions, the voice of the dissatisfied consumer emerges: especially when high taxes do not equate to value for money. But there are citizens out there, it is not the case that we have a consumer society that wants individual benefits from market-oriented parties, they want that as well as the best politics for society (this is based on research findings); but they do not find that so become spectators of the political marketplace, where support goes up and down, but unsure who is setting the prices.
Any thoughts?
A Labour government and the IMF in one sentence.
Sounds familiar ......
Brown has proved that his "prudence" has failed and the meaning of peudence in his terms is an excuse for dithering.
Yes we are going into hard times and we need a strong leader, one who is prepared to make hard decisions and is not affraid to stick his neck above the parapit, and not run for cover.
O how I wish Ken Clarke was prime minister at a time like this, I would even buy him a new pair of hush puppies if they still made them in the UK or has that gone to China.
Gordon is finished. No matter what happens at the local elections he is too damaged to survive. The vultures are gathering ready to eat up the chickens that are coming home to roost.
Blair was an empty promise and Brown is simply empty and the sooner we can get to the polls the better.
Labour wreeked this kind of havock last time they were in power and nothing has changed except that they appear to have managed to do even worse than last time. Last time there was the 'brain drain' and we worried about the talent that was lost to this country. This time they have drowned us with immigrants and the Brits who can have left again. All we are left with are those few of us working to pay exhorbitant taxes to support the benefit system etc, and in that I include MPs.
He could still turn it around even now. There are lot’s of ways to impress me: scrap first-past-the-post, start taxing the toffs instead of cutting 10p band, pull out of Iraq and tell the US to get lost, scrap our nuclear weapons, don’t go to the China Olympics, move Parliament and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to the midlands where rent is less, offer cheap mortgages through Northern Rock, cut Doctors and Dentists pay and train many more up, give the nom-doms the heave-ho, give some knighthoods to normal people, scrap the Lords, tax breaks for unions, more tax on business, less tax for me!
Yet he sits there and frets, while he has the power to do all these great things. Aghh.. step down Gordon, while you still have some shreds of dignity.
I don't know who Nick Robinson is, but he appears not to understand the difference between local and national government. The elections on 1 May are for local government councillors, and have nothing to do with what the national government is doing. I shall vote for whichever candidate I consider will best represent me on my local council; unfortunately, I have to wait a few years before I can do anything about getting rid of this useless, self-serving, prime minister who knows nothing about this country and cares even less. And we thought Blair was bad!
Bring back Blair, all is forgiven!!
The think that I don't get is why he picks fights when he doesn't have to most notably the detention period.
On top of this his people (Ed Balls was a advisor before being dropped into a Labour seat so he could be an MP) just aren't very good.
MPs could sense danger when Blair was nearing the end. Now they have the problem - stick or twist (the knife that is).
Gordon Brown, your days in number 10 are numbered - 744 left I think, so enjoy them whilst you can.
Perhaps we should all remember that we are part of a global economy. It may well be the fashionable thing to bash Brown but let’s not forget that we've had low inflation and interest rates for the last eleven years. How many people would be able to pay there mortgages if the interest rates were at 15% like the good old days of boom and bust? Never mind the lowest sustained levels of employment since the War.
What are team Cameron going to do when they get into power? Stick to the government’s fiscal policy, that's what! Perhaps Brown's not the hapless buffoon you portray him as after all. Then again he may be responsible for the American sub prime crisis, poor harvests and Bio fuel production. He gets blamed for every thing else.
Events dear boy-events!
So the prime minister and his chancellor are calling for the banks to reduce interest rates. If that is the case why hasn't their own bank (norther rock) reduced theirs?
Because as ever one rule for labour another for everyone else.
There is a great artical by McWhirter in the Herald today about Brown pushing Scotland towards independance.
While he is undoubtably making a mess of his position as PM through out the UK his & his cohort (Wendy) are possibly making an even worse mess politically in Scotland. Very obvious, negative and underhand tactics that are failing dont appear to stop him using them.
Labour have obsolutaly no chance at the next election with Brown at the helm. He is being universally disliked all over the UK.
The Tories will win in England and the SNP in Scotland......from there who knows.
Most people are in unison that the present government will be given the heave-ho at the next general election, but what I wonder is how bad will Labour make it for the next government?
If the country is only in a bad state so the next government can improve things then the next government could sit in power for the next 3-4 elections.
If the country is so bad that the next government cannot improve things, will the voters turf them out and get Labour back in the next but one election?
But if the country is so terribly bad that everyone realises the next government doesn't have a chance of making it better in one term then there is a chance they will be voted in for the election after next in the hope they will make things better.
Or am I cynical to suggest that a government would purposely torpedo the country just to make the party voted in to clear up the mess look even worse?
I read this out to my girlfriend and she thought I was quoting the Daily Mash.
Its not looking good for Gordon Brown!
Darren Lilleker makes some good points but my central contention is that English people generally are 'passive' because they do not really see any relevance to the English and their lives, in the mainstream political parties.
Who continue to peddle outmoded claptrap about the zombie political entity called Britain.
We English people know what is going on in Scotland and good luck to them I say as they move towards their independence.
Yesterday I received a letter - and it byline stated - Welsh Assembly Government.
Do those people at Westminster think we English are totally stupid, politically speaking?
We English need to adjust to a new political framework in which we ourselves are 'independent'.
Post 24: Nick Robinson obviously knows how the political system of this country works considering he is the Political Editor (or whatever the title is these days). The local elections are vastly important to the national government - they reflect what the public mood is (not that an election would be needed for that).
Post 23: The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is already moving - to Salford where the rent is even cheaper than the Midlands.
People complaining about the state of affairs please tell me who the alternative is to Brown (bringer of the largest investment into public services ever, instigator of minimum wage and who was bein hailed as the best post-war chancellor just a year ago).
Cameron - one of the architects of Black Wednesday, who promises tax cuts but thinks he can magic the money from thin air?
Clegg - leader of a party that has been out of power so long it can barely spell the word government?
I agree that Gordon Brown has had it. And the Labour government along with him.
However, I fail to see why the Tories are the perceived solution.
After all, they are even more tightly wedded to the dogma that has got us into this mess!
Britain should look to Europe and start to trade its way out of this mess, a habit it has forgotten during thirty years dominated by industry destroying, neo-liberal economic dogma.
Too many people in Britain think they can get something for nothing: for example ever-increasing profit without investment, or world-class public services without taxation.
It's long past time to wake up. A delusional Conservative Party is also NOT the answer to current economic woes.
After all, they started the rot.
The Brown share price enjoyed a very good run early last year when but then fell quite sharply when it was hit by a series of 'profit warnings' - the called off election,Northern Rock et al.Mostly self inflicted wounds which undermined investors confidence in management.
The sense of gloom about the share price has deepened with the full effects of the credit crunch now being experienced by voters.
What can turn things around? More spin? an image makeover for Gordon?
I don't think so it's already too late for that. Gordon needs to demonstrate leadership skills, act decisively and quickly on a number of issues and show clearly that he has what it takes to be PM.
A heavy hitter or two in the cabinet wouldn't hurt either.
Tony Blair must be falling about with laughter!
He has picked up various very well paid jobs and got out just at the right time! No doubt he got a good long term deal on his mortgage before Gordon & Alistair started messing things up.
He must see old Ma Broon and her scottish accolytes ruining the country and the cries of come back Tony all is forgiven as a wonderful indictment of just how flawed Gordon Brown really is.
Every day Gordon's star falls his rises that bit more.
#4 Where is the new Thatcher?
Hate to say it - even she would have a much tougher time now.
Back in her day, the middle classes demanded that unions just shut up and do what they were told.
She obliged by smashing the unions and strip-mining the industries (and communities) which they serviced.
There is alot less slack in the system now.
The problem of fair treatment for workers and inefficiency in manufacturing has largely gone away (mainly to China, India and elsewhere). As has the burden of owning a manufacturing or agricultural business.
Thanks to market liberalisation, Little Englanders now mainly use Scottish or Far-Eastern Banks, burn Russian controlled gas and buy electricity from the French. The idea of an English car is quaint as tea on the lawn and vicars on bikes.
Yet, the Brits seem obstinately unwilling to actually go out and tap into the captive market of 1/2 Million Europeans on their doorstep, or properly use the rich pool of resident anglicised immigrants (or 2nd/3rd generation) who can give them that extra edge in those markets and even further abroad. What happened to the great days of Empire when we didn't rely on other countries to exploit their own citizens - we
Now it is more the case that the middle classes demand that the fragmented non-unionised working class and non-working classes behave themselves and do what they are told (and also that the government stop interfering in their own drinking/smoking/consumption habits and school district gerrymandering).
Problem is we are all middle class (as mainly defined by obsession with bricks and mortar beyond all reason, pride in conspicuous consumption and an ability to identify occupations which are beneath us).
Cameron's best bet will to keep schtum about actual policies in the meantime and let Brown get himself voted out of office by himself, then, once in power, bring in some headline punitive policies against the immigrants actually doing the work in this country, and the uneducated, disaffected, balkanised poor (maybe provoke some proper riots like Maggie used to have in Brixton)
All the while remembering blame the fragmentation of the UK (politically and socially), belt-tightening and stealth privatisation of the NHS on Labour for 4 years.
Then, near the second election, boost his popularity by having the common sense to start up a remote, small-scale and strictly winnable war. It's what Maggie would do.
Gordon Brown, the biggest disaster as PM since heavens knows when, wasn't elected to his post, he usurped it. Everyone on the UK (with sense) wants him out of the Govenrment and England! We in Scotland don't want him back here, thank you.
Goodnight Gordon.
Staff working for Brown and Company are said to be revolting
Tell us something we don't know Nick!!
I stopped watching TV news last year and I don't read the comment pages of newspapers.
You see a recession on the street. There are a few businesses closing, but most of them are restaurants perpetuated by the ridiculous optimism of entrepreneurs and loose lending.
When there are twenty families a week in Bournemouth being throw out on the street, you'll know we've got a problem of major proportions. When unemployment o takes off, we'll have a Depression on our hands.
I lived in London for seven years, and I saw corruption in the property market and wasteful increases in public spending.
People who made little contribution to society were raking it in, while life was made impossible for people who had the misfortune to do something worthwhile that earned a low income.
Edmund Wilson in his articles on the Depression recognised that a crash is an opportunity for change.
"One couldn't help being exhilarated at the sudden, unexpected collapse of the stupid gigantic fraud."
Cheap housing, stupid businesses going to the wall, corrupt people being exposed, people learning the proper value of money, a greater seriousness in society about what we do and who we are. That's a reason for celebration, not depression.
So 11 years in power,10 of those as Chancellor and backing Tony all the way, now after almost a year in the job he craved for,where are we? Up a well known backwater without means of propulsion.The sooner we get rid of this useless bunch of no hopers the better.Nick, please keep telling us how it is, I do'nt want to keep hearing the likes of Hazel Blears telling us everthing is alright and they have the answers.
'Tyke'
England needs a complete new party which supports independence and can work together constructively with Plaid Cymru and the SNP to end the undemocratic union which blights everyone in this island.
Labour and the Tories are virtually indistinguishable. It's almost as bad as the US and that's saying something.
Where is the alternative from the left? It's not coming from the Lib Dems who are undemocratic when it suits them (ie in Scotland where they are blocking a referendum on independence).
I don't think we can call Gordon Brown the Prime Minister any longer, his continual dithering, and his self-created financial disaster makes the title Sub-Prime Minister more appropriate
We all pick the bone, we all pick the bone. What a lot of bullying thugs are around!
It would be good if those folk who complain about Brown would offer some suggestions about how to proceed. Its one thing to think things should be improved but difficult to do when the events are global and outside local control. At least Gordon ensured we had 11 good years and has the intellectual capacity to understand the international money markets. God help us if the Tories get power.
'People complaining about the state of affairs please tell me who the alternative is to Brown (bringer of the largest investment into public services ever, instigator of minimum wage and who was bein hailed as the best post-war chancellor just a year ago)'
Jim X - You do yourself no favours. Largest 'investment' - no, sorry, it was called 'spending' in the last Labour administration and it caused exactly the same problem with exactly the same outcome - the IMF.
'Instigator of the minimum wage' - but the actual spending power of the said 'minimum wage' is being eroded by something that was also very relevant to the last Labour administration - ever rising 'inflation'.
The 'best post-war Chancellor'- you've been listening to Pravd... sorry, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ too much. He will go down as the biggest disaster of a Chancellor this country has ever had - funny that, he's not much of a Prime Minister either, is he?
The answer to your question - anyone, please, anyone!
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I would take the lambasting of Brown more seriously if any of the other parties had any better ideas about what to do with the economy. Yes, the UK's economy would be in a better shape if the brakes had been put on borrowing years ago, but no-one said anything back then, so I can only assume a Tory Government would have done the same. Sure, sticking it out whilst the global credit crunch does its worst isn't a cheery prospect, but what alternatives have the other parties proposed? None that I noticed.
In fact, the only difference I've noticed the Conservatives offer is a leader who has the same skill of presenting himself that Tony Blair does - bearing in mind that Tony Blair bent the truth far more than Gordon Brown ever managed. (Has Gordon Brown fabricated any reasons for war yet?) All I can imagine is that the angrier the public over glitz and spin, the more eager they become to be fobbed off by more glitz and spin. Sometimes I despair.
Jim X: 'Clegg - leader of a party that has been out of power so long it can barely spell the word government?'
If that's the best reason to discount the Liberal Democrats as alternatives, they should wipe the floor in the next election.
Try to provide plausible reasons; it is precisely this 'It's the Lib Dems, they'll never get anywhere' attitude that hinders them so much. If people took the time to realise that voting for a different party is only going to maintain this problem and actually gave some thought to the political parties' ideas rather than images, we'd get a lot further.
I always voted Labour before 2001 but didn't bother voting at all after 2005 because of what Blair did in Iraq.
When Gordon Brown became PM I thought things would get better but I'm so disillusioned with him over scrapping the tax rate for now I'll be voting against Labour for the first time in my life.
I was led to believe a load of rubbish about the SNP and have been pleasantly surprised and invigorated at how they are doing things that I expected Labour to do.
Labour have lost their soul and its time yo move on
Food, shelter and warmth are the basic requirements for people in the UK.
Gordon Brown has provided record breaking low inflation for the people of the UK.
He has also stopped economic Boom & Bust cycles.
Thank God!
If one sat down and actually thought about it, how can any-one blame Mr Brown for the idiocy of individuals and the greed of banks? If a young couple planning on their future, see a house they like at,say, £150,000, borrow £180,000 to pay for it and a new BMW and luxury holiday find themselves unable to meet their payments when their cheap fixed rate deal comes to an end, how is that Mr Brown's fault? The root of all this is banks paying commission to mortgage brokers and the like, it's sell the products at all cost and who cares if the person you're selling to will be able to afford it in two years? Sell them another cheap deal then. This attitude to business will always catch up with you eventually. Unscrupulous salesmen and gulliable idiots that have probably never had to wait for anything their entire lives are the reason for this so called crisis and not Gordon Brown. The only blame you could fairly lay on his door is he should not have allowed the banks to lend more than the actual value of these houses.
I read all the posts and wonder why Brown is the one meeting the bankers,surely he has a capable chancellor in Darling or even Mrs. Ed Ball, I would remember her name but like Brown she will remain in hiding until thing improve and then appear to claim glory and expenses.
1st Officer "Captain, on a heading to hit that iceberg, shall we change direction?"
Captain "My sole focus is to avoid the iceberg, hold steady to our course"
Medical Officer " Captain, another 50 passengers ill from the outbreak of salmonella in the kitchens"
Captain "My sole focus is on the iceberg"
Safety Officer "Captain, we have 50 more passengers overboard from the broken railings on deck"
Captain "My sole focus is on the iceberg"
Steward "Captain, we are out of ice in the bar"
fantastic vision from a greedy spoiler, who was gunning for USA, when Tony tried to bidge the gap - politics at it worse.
Nick,
Before we get too carried away with the 'sack Brown' mentality, I would suggest that we consider the alternatives. Straw, Milliband (take your pick), Purnell, etc. Do any of these inspire greater confidence than Brown?
Meantime it is no surprise to me that amongst the English there are some who want to blame the current problems on the fact that they are being 'governed' by a Scotsman. Unfortunately for those individuals, the country has been in a mess before, with the English at the helm - shock, horror, whatever next!. Indeed, if you lived in Scotland during the Thatcher years, there were many who felt that the Scots were being ignored or sacrificed to high interest rates to suit the English boom & bust. To these individuals I would simply say - you got what you voted for! If you want to change it, be my guest - just stop whining in the meantime.