Gordon in limbo

Nick, gosh are you believing the spin of yesterday's non event? You obviously did not see the 7pm news on channel 4 last night. The C4 poll was forecasting an election result worse than Foot's of 1983.

I would speculate that the one thing that is driving him on is the desire not to go down in history as one of the shortest serving PMs.
Polls show that a change in leadership will do little to resurrect Labour prospects at the next GE so why bother to change the present status quo? The country meanwhile can go hang.

Nick you should compare notes with Michael Crick. https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/

He might not have been backed or sacked but he's certainly cracked.

"The public does not say it wants a change of Labour leader nor that the party's position would be improved if there was one. "

Er, which public is this then, and which planet are you on again?

What has dawned on the labour party is what has slowly dawned on the rest of the country; we are bankrupt.

620bn of public debt - tripled under labour and that's before northern Rock. HBOS borrowing heavily from the Bank of England on a daily basis and unable to contine without it.

This is why every single initiative that our grandstanding prime minister leaks turns out to be a little mouse when it pops out; we haven;t got any money left.

This situation will get worse - tax receipts are collapsing.

Look at propertysnake to see the real extent of the housing market falls - down 40% on some parts of the country.

Look at the performance of sterling down over 20% agains the dollar and the Euro - that's bogger than the fall out after the ERM fiasco under the tories.

Look at new car sales - the worst for forty years.

So I say to all who argue the toss about whether it's like the 90's or better or worse; we don't know yet just how bad it's going to be but the way the govenrment never seems to have the trumpeted funds for its schemes is telling you the national finances are ina much worse state than we have been told.

And i forgot to mention the 'wonder' of Brown's employment 'miracle' which was in fact one million extra public sector jobs paid for by us and millions of immigrants and two million people on incapacity benefits.

Would you want to be leader of this party at the next election?

Is not the real reason the fact that Labour MP's have come to the realisation that regardless of who leads them they are destined for defeat at the next election?-Brown will never go of his own volition and no-one else wants to lead labour to certain defeat

You only have to look at Andy Burnham's rant about the FA to see how out of touch this Government are... when people are concerned about the cost of gas and electricity, mortgages and unemployment the Government is devoting itself to regulating the FA!!

It's over - the sooner he goes, and Labour they better for them, the better for everyone. Perception of Brown will not change, whatever he does. In the public eye he has being weighed and measured and found to come up short of the mark.

It's like a toothache and he's scared to go to the dentist. It's not going to heal, it's just going to get worse. Decisions are being made to salve their own pain, not address the cause. There is a clear perception that what is being done is to try to benefit party and not country. It appears the government don't see that the public are aware.

Face your fear, get it out and let the healing begin. The pain will be insignificant next to the relief

Gordon Brown, Like Major in the late nineties, is a dead man walking

Even the unions accept that a Labour victory is a likely as a british sprinter winning the 100m at the olympics anytime soon! or Bolton winning the premiership! and are courting Cameron and the Tories like the germans seeking an armistice after the First World War.

Damage limitation

The only debate is the scale of the defeat given that anything that may help lower interest rates, falling inflation or a retrun of a feel good factor are unlikely.

Call the Election now and lets stop the uncertainity.

So, what has changed? Why has the "centre of gravity moved in Gordon's favour" as one Cabinet minister put it to me. The critics admit that they cannot see a way to get from here to there - from a world with Brown as leader to a world without him.

There's no-one else is there? Even the awful Polly Toynbee calls them 'a cabinet of minnows.' Plunging ahead is Labour's only option--- one which will inevitably lead them to their doom.

Call an election Gordon, and die with honour.

As we all know that Brown isn't going anywhere (why sack the Captain after the iceberg has struck?) can we now see some POLICY from Labour. You know that thing we expect Government to do; come up with new laws that make this Country and our own lives better. Rather than pathetic and disgustingly weak rescue plans, they would do better to be seen to be getting on with the job; not just saying it.

For me the delicious irony is that if Brown was perhaps 10 points behind in the polls he would be more susceptible to a challenge- as it is at 20 points the gap is insurmountable ... most Labour MPs have reached this grim realisation and are just resigned to screwing as much out of the system as they can over the next 24 months (apart from Hazel Blears and Crash Gordon who both are convinced Labour will still win)

Let's all park without a permit!

For Labour the whole world is framed by its own present sense of failure. It is as though, if they are doomed to defeat themselves, then they are going to make damn sure everyone else is doomed.

---Martin Kettle in today's Grauniad

Brown is a selfish man putting himself before the country.

The cabinet are a selfish people not wanting to rock the boat, so putting themselves before the country.

The only interest the public have in Brown and Labour is when can the be thrown out. Details of who does what are irrelevant to them.

If Brown is so keen on saving energy, he could slash the public sectors power budget by 40% and insist that all civil servants wear two jumpers, turn down the heating, close the curtains, turn off the lights, put baloons up their chimneys to make up the gap -- after all it is what he says he expects the public to do...

Brown's sole declared reason for not having an election last year was so he could 'set out his vision' - he has had a year to do that, so where is our election? we demand one NOW.

And why have none of the proles come out in support of Charles Clarke?

Possible due to the need to ride this Gravy train to the last stop in 2010, grab as much cash and freebies as possible and have time to look for alternative employement.

I want to see him go down in election, I want to see his face on the podium when the numbers are called out

Ill wait 2 years for that pleasure.


Get your new kitchens, rockeries and Tudor facades while you can guys.

Nick..........I'm always surprised at the nievity of political commentators and politicians. You say that 'friends' of Gordon believe that the electorate don't blame Gordon, but the 'economy.' How stupid is that! Gordon's been so-called managing the economy for the last 10 years. Who else is there to blame?

You say that the public 'do not want a change of leader.' You're right, we don't...what we want is the opportunity to kick his arse out of power!!!!!

I am not so sure about this. Surely Harriet Harman's class war speech was a deliberate laying out of her 'class warrior' credibility to the Unions? She couldn't have signalled her intent more obviously, IMO. Doesn't that indicate a willingness to encourage further leadership speculation?

The Nu-Labour censors are out in force.

They won't stop us. We are one, bloggers!

How typical of Gordon.

Went into his bunker and did nothing.

Saved because none of the rest of them have got the Eds to take the poisoned chalice.

I presume all challengers read this Blog and realise they are doomed to personal oobscurity if they take over now and take the inevitable loss in the election.
Better that they leave the scapegoat in place

#5. pdblake wrote:
""The public does not say it wants a change of Labour leader nor that the party's position would be improved if there was one. "

Er, which public is this then, and which planet are you on again?"


It makes perfect sense, the public are saying "We don't want Brown, but even if you change leader, we're still voting you out at the next election."

The next election will be between two parties - New Labour and Not Labour.

Nick,

You seem to ignore the Brown "strategy" for dealing with the energy crisis. Should I be surprised?

That was the political story. Not the moans and groans from the timbers of a sinking ship.

As I understand it, Brown offers an 85 year old lady the chance to get on a 3 year waiting list to get free (or possibly subsidised) insulation installed, in a home she can't afford to heat this winter.

And maybe she "prudently" invested her own money, years ago, to insulate that property. In that case, I don't see any help at all.

If that's the best Brown can up with, it's no wonder this administration is in dire straits.

Haven't seen any resignations so far, so I guess that the Cabinet plus assorted hangers-on approve of this nonsense.

I forget now who it was that said it, but it's still as true today as it was then:

"People vote Labour in with empty heads, and vote them out again with empty wallets"

It's going to be a long wait till 2010 to get the chance! All us long-suffering taxpayers have to look forward to is another 2 years of spin, nonsense, taxatation, and being patronised on a daily basis by these clowns whenever they feel the urge to lift their heads up out of the trough.

It's going to take a long time for our once-great nation to recover after this shambles of a government.

Save money, save energy...?

That's Save Monergy then!

Is it me or was that an old British Gas advert? Can GB's PR machine now be stuck in an 80's time warp?

No matter what the outcome of the next By-Election, no-one will want the job of leading a party to near oblivion at the next General Election. So we're all stuck with GB in a job he can not do and with him surrounded by grinning mad-men/persons/brothers/sisters drinking Pimms and Bud.

With no-one around to do the honourable thing, looks like we all doooooomed!

Nick,

You are confusing the calm before the storm as a sign of good weather to come.

Unless David Cameron does something very stupid Labour will lose the next election, and lose it badly (recent polling shows a 100+ seat majority) which will create an interesting backdrop to the Labour Conference. An audience full of 150 Labour MPs almost certain to lose their seats at the next election if Brown stays in office, and militant union representatives is not a good one for Brown.

If the Labour Party can't win with Gordon why keep him on?

#20

I was put on the naughty step all day yesterday for something I had typed.

I truley hope Gordon does go the distance, and doesn't get usurped. The reason for this that Nu Labour are already running with thier B team (not that the A team was much above self congratulation and greed).

Obviously the can't select another PM without an election, and with our overseas policies already a train wreck, can anyone see that ASBO waiting to happen Miliband at the controls. It would be like making Swampy minister for roads.

If Gordon's friends really believe that the best way to get out of a hole is to keep digging we are all screwed.

The ecomomy is failing due to a preponderance of unserviceable debt. Gordon Brown laid the conditions for what we are currently experiencing.

It's like asking an arsonist holding matches and petrol how they'd suggest fighting a forest fire.

What's that you say Nick, it's the economy and Brown's the man best placed to sort it out??? Wow we are entering uncharted waters here. Isn't he the man that messed it up? The thing is, looking at it from new labour's position there's little they can do to change their prospects. I think they're sort of doing the old 'fiddling while Rome burns' thing. I mean, if it's true what you say Nick, the've done a pretty amazing thing convincing themselves that the runaway train that is UK PLC is nothing to do with them. They are deep in doo doo. They may think they can hang on to the illusion that 'hey it's just external events and not us' and that when the time comes good old Joe and Jane public'll come around to seeing that. But believe me, our memories of their maladministration go deeper than this. They're gonna be wiped out at the next election, they know it and they don't like it, so they're looking for any excuse, any crumb of comfort they can to support the illusion that 'hey it'll come come right in the end. It won't: the train's already left the station.

This whole drama is pathetic.

We all know the country is virtually bankrupt thanks to Brown's "borrow big, and borrow often" tactics as Chancellor. If the British media was even slightly capable, they would have been bringing this to the country's attention ten years ago, to hopefully stop Gordon in his tracks. To be honest, I don't know why Brown doesn't just come out with a speech saying "okay, here's the deal: we have absolutely no money, so there's absolutely nothing we can offer you. However, we all know you're going to vote us out at the next election no matter what I do, so what I'm going to do is sit here and do nothing for two years, and that's just how it is."

It's no wonder Scottish independence is so violently opposed by Westminster parties - our oil is the only thing keeping the British economy from imploding completely.

Perhaps if Brown realised Labour have no chance of being re-elected anyway, he wouldn't care about upsetting the energy companies, and could force them into line just like we all want. Ironically, this is probably the only thing that can save them anyway.

It's time for Labour to decide who they work for: big business or the voting public.

The government has admitted that it is powerless to stop energy firms passing on the cost on its fuel assistance package onto customers.

The devil is in the detail as usual

Thanks Gordon, Now not only do I get no help as my house is already fully insulated, but I have to pay for those that havent already insulated through my energy bill.

Fantastic way to tax me and be able to say it wasnt you.

It is no longer about Gordon, it about the labour party and, not to put not to fine a point on it they are just so finished.

The only way now to get rid of Gordon is to get rid of labour MPs, simple as that. So, they might as well keep the jamboree going and hope that something, anything, turns up.

In the meantime the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan appears to deteriorate with every passing hour. As for Dafur, Chad/Cameroon and the Sudan! There must be an inquiry into Iraq, and parliament must be recalled about the situation in Pakistan, we must not allow our Special Forces to be caught up in the mire, not without parliament discussing it first, or does parliament not matter anymore.

Gordon Brown sets the agenda and he thought by going onto the economy attention would be diverted from the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, by diverting attention onto the economy he has chosen the wrong area. Nobody will forget that he was the Chancellor, still acts as though he is, instead still we have Alastair Darling, the fall guy, having to take the rap for what Gordon allowed to happen on his watch.

There will still have to be a cabinet reshuffle, but the problem is that when it happens he will have some very angry former cabinet members. Trouble is if he doesn't reshuffle then it will expose his very weakness because he knows there must be changes but he has no power to do anything. Too many skeletons in the cupboard?

Labour MP Frank Field, who led a successful backbench revolt over the abolition of the 10p tax band, said after a summer spent "roaring about the package" the government had actually produced "a mouse of a proposal".

Another Labour MP, Alan Simpson, chairman of the Parliamentary Warm Homes group, told the BBC that an extra £74m pledged towards the Warm Front insulation scheme simply reversed existing cuts to its budget.


Plenty of disent in the ranks as well.

This package is neither fair or equal!

I would go out and shout from the rooftops that this government arent fair and equal but I truly believe that 51 million of the 64M people in this country already know and 30mil are prepared to vote against them when GB gives use the chance

#15 the-real-truth

You are spot on matey. However he is not just being selfish he was also selfish last year, when he bottled the election so as to avoid possible defeat, and denied us the chance to vote him out.

Harriet Harman for PM? I suppose that might be someone's "dream ticket" but I would beg to differ. It would ensure that Labour would sink even further from view

#34 I suppose we must be thankful he did bottle it. There was always a chance he might have retained a majority and so be around for another five years! This way we have an end date and Labour sinking fast.

I agree with Nick on this one; they've basically all given up because they know their party is finished for good.

I think it's becoming increasingly likely that they won't even be able to secure enough MPs to be the official opposition in 2010 as the libdems could well overtake them on that front.

The fact that they can't see a better alternative to Brown in their party speaks volumes for how completely useless all the other labour MPs must be.

They'll take as many perks as they can for the next 18 months and build up their disgustingly large tax-payer-funded pensions, and continue their scorched earth policy out of sheer political spite to their opponents, and then they'll all retire to Barbados in 2010 sipping champagne on the beach and having a good laugh at how they managed to fool the electorate for so long.

I just don't get it. Ten years of boom and the inheritance of a healthy economy. Where has all the money gone? Where are our roads, prisons and power stations? Where is our fiscal reserve? Don't talk to me about the new schools and hospitals - our kids will be paying those off.

34 Jonno_39

Sometimes Fate can be kind and intervene in strange ways. Hitler postponed the invasion of Great Britain, either from hubris or he lost his bottle. For whatever reason, the tide turned in our favour. Perhaps, here too, unknown forces are at work!

#36

Oh my God yes you're right. Can you imagine that?! Five years of this.

I need a drink.

So what it comes to is that, because Milliband's attempt failed, Gordon is more secure. But he's still
(1) useless
(2) out of ideas
(3) visibly suffering from stress
(4) not up to the job.
And good timing, Nick: while your sources were telling you that Brown was secure, Sky was breaking the news that at least a few Labour bankbenchers have asked for leadership nomination forms.
Maybe you have something in common with Brown?

Big gaps in this blog, what's going on? Someone fall asleep?

A handful of Labour MPs have called for a leadership contest in the party, the BBC has learnt.

Labour sources have confirmed they have received letters from a "small number" of MPs, thought to be in single figures, asking for a contest.

They said they had received a similar number of requests in previous years.

The development will increase pressure on Gordon Brown whose efforts to rally the government with housing and energy initiatives have been criticised.


OOOH Nick did you get it wrong again.

Perhaps you were in the eye of the storm and it all looked calm ;)

If Gordon is in limbo then he is between the devil and the deep blue sea. Best place for him, if you ask me.

31. Pot_Kettle

I suspect we are seeing the emergence of the Fourth Way.

Cant raise taxes, cant cut back on spending, cant borrow more; so get private companies to indirectly subsidise the poor.

Prices rise for most, plausible deniability is abound. and blow back blamed on the evil money grabbing private sector.

Clever, I like it.

I can't remember a time, though I am not THAT old, when there has been such a paralysis for such a long time in a political party.

The inevitable comparison is with Honest John Major. If somebody like him feels sorry for Gordon then he is done.

But the probability must be that the future holds a Russian roulette of leaders as with the Tories post Major. Perhaps one will succeed and perhaps the Unions will tire of trying to decide what the Labour Party is.

If they decide to go down a new party route I am sure they will be pressing for proportional representation.

@45

I agree Carrots, He has definately excelled himself in this new even stealthier way of taxation.

I hear that lockheed want him to work on the project replacing the F117.

So I wrote a piece just now and it disappeared into the blogosphere; I will try again.

We are all agreed that Labour and Broon are going to hang on for as long as possible.

Given that, what then?

Hardly a day goes by without me hearing that yet another good company has gone down the pan. This is only the start and it will get a whole lot worse until it gets better.

My question is who out of our two to three party system of professional politicians will want to be the next leader of Britain? There will be no money to spend and they will have to preside over the downsizing of the public sector. None of that will look good on your CV.

Who of the present bunch of pretty boys and girls of any party have the ability to do that?

Perhaps it will then be time for a National government?

Labour are in deep trouble - there's something of a rabbit-in-the-headlights effect running through them.

Getting rid of Brown is unlikely to improve anything - his fiscal policies were based on the NICE years not ending, which when they did highlighted how inappropriate the 'prudence' tag was, and at this point in the electoral cycle the public are sick of Labour in general.

If they could find a charismatic, competent leader with some depth, then they could turn it around (Cameron is something of a powder-puff, and a suitably good opponent would destroy him), but Brown and Blair created fiefdoms without anyone capable of directly challenging them, so none are to be found.

His fuel concept was ludicrous - instead of approaching the energy companies with a useless stick (windfall tax was never on the table), he could've used a carrot via future taxation or ensuring all fuel to the poor is VAT free and tax-free to the energy companies.

Brown has shown himself to be unable to handle the PM role, he should have the guts to find a successor soon, as that'll be to the benefit of everyone.

Just rediscovered this old gem from the 1997 Labour manifesto and posted it to the fag-end of the last blog.

Spread the word...

Spending and tax: new Labour's approach

The myth that the solution to every problem is increased spending has been comprehensively dispelled under the Conservatives. Spending has risen. But more spending has brought neither greater fairness nor less poverty. Quite the reverse - our society is more divided than it has been for generations. The level of public spending is no longer the best measure of the effectiveness of government action in the public interest. It is what money is actually spent on that counts more than how much money is spent.

The national debt has doubled under John Major. The public finances remain weak. A new Labour government will give immediate high priority to seeing how public money can be better used.

New Labour will be wise spenders, not big spenders

This government just gets funnier and funnier.

Who would take the job?

No one believes Labour can win the next election, so no one is prepared to tarnish their CV with a loss as leader - let Gordon lose this one and then have a leadership contest. Even MP's in marginals are aware that no leader at the moment can help the situation, unless Britain's economy suddenly booms, and Iraq's/Afghanistan's rebels suddenly become sheep and petrol suddenly halves in price.

Any realistic leadership candidate will wait until there is a chance of being seen as labour's saviour, rather than another stopgap

I don't know. Chap puts on the clobber, works damn hard all his life and for what? For what?

Answer us that Mr Brown if you're listening, which I very much doubt you are.

If they decide to go down a new party route I am sure they will be pressing for proportional representation.

Only as disingenuous ploy to get LibDems to campaign half-heartedly in Labour/Con marginals. Then, once they've got 'The Ring' it'll be like Tony Blair spitting in Paddy Ashdown's face all over again?

Proportional Representation Paddy? Whatever gave you that idea? Now, off you go while I release details of your little fling and discredit you.

'An atmosphere of weary resignation has overtaken his party'.

Is that the best this great British nation is entitled to?

So Gordon Brown has messed up the economy and mortgaged our future and we're just stuck with him?

Isn't this how revolutions happen? A ruling elite turns its back on the population and says you've got no choice.

The real truth is the Treasury has shut its doors to all of Gordon's grandiose plans. if you want an unbiased, apolitical view of the situation listen to Mervyn King who is telling you there is nothing he can do and it's going to get worse.

Looks like dear old Gordon'll be redoing his CV pretty soon. Oh dear, where will he go when they dump him? Somewhere in the banking sector perhaps? Although that might not exist pretty soon the way things are going. Maybe he'll join Tony and do the US speech circuit. Love to see it, out of sight like Tony: out of mind.

19, I'm a Labour voter. Harmann declaring herself a class warrior is less believable than Hitler being multi-culturalist.

She is about as working class as my dog is a concert pianist.

By making that speech she made herself look a ridiculous hypocrit and the once-great Labour Party look like it was cluching at straws.

#50

Thanks for bringing this up in black and white for all to see! Unfortunately I've only had a limited amount of brave face when it comes to this government and I ran out a while back.

Hopefully when it's all over I'll be able to look back and laugh at the staggering levels of Liebore's hypocrisy! But a small part of me dies a little every time I remember that we're stuck with them for another 18 months or more...

@50

The Conservatives could lift that directly out of Labours 1997 manifesto and put it into their 2010 one.

Osborne really should be making mileage out of that one,

Nick you are right, no change of leadership would help the labour party.
It is beyond help.
The problem is there is not another party that gives any confidence in their ability to do the job.
I will vote for a smaller party next time, UKIP.
The old saying that to do the same thing again and again and expect a different result is a sign of maddness.
I will give UKIP a vote if only to try and get rid of the to and fro from Lab. to Con.

@56

Didnt your dog take over from Jools Holland when he left squeeze?

The real truth is the Treasury has shut its doors to all of Gordon's grandiose plans. if you want an unbiased, apolitical view of the situation listen to Mervyn King who is telling you there is nothing he can do and it's going to get worse.

I sincerely hope Mervyn King is adamant about that. The 'independent' BoE is composed of four treasury plants and four 'independent' members plus King. It wouldn't take Brown long to 'stack' the MPC just as Tony Blair stacked the House of Lords.

We need the 'guilty' ie the over-borrowed government, the over-borrowed public and the over-borrowed banks to get exactly what their imprudent behaviour deserves. Because if they don't, they'll just do it again. And again. And continually drag the rest of us down with them.

Why are my grandkids still going to be paying for the 'Foot and Mouth' crisis or Northern Rock?

Why can't we just get a government that will balance the budget and keep it balanced? Ideally pay off our debt completely?

Why is it so hard? I don't spend more than I earn. Never have. Even when I had a mortgage I didn't then go out and get another mortgage for more money the following year. To buy a car. And a foreign holiday. Or a 'review' into 'poverty'.

What is wrong with this government? How is it possible to be so financially incontinent?

All that will happen is that Gordon will blame 'global factors' and blow his 'golden rules' out of the water and squander 80bn this financial year and 120bn the next. That's the only option he has.

He's a Labour PM. Just watch him.

Most decent, right thinking chaps think you are a poor excuse for a PM so what have you got to say to that, Mr Gordon "Fares Please" Brown??

With respect to other posters I don’t think nick is wrong despite today’s news.

Mps by their very nature are spineless yes men, the whips make sure of that in all parties.

It appears a handfull have found their backbone and said enough.

Lets just see if that inspires others into doing the same.

Personally I don’t think it will.

Mps only represent themselves not us, so Labour mps have two viable options I can see.

1) They can try and salvage what they can by taking a gamble on a new leader. But I doubt they would be able to hang on for 18 months without going to the country.

2) Rough it out and making the best of what’s left, so if the worse does happen they will be busy making sure they are secure financially.

If I were a labour mp (thankfully I am not aligned with that lot) personally given those choices I would have to choose option 2.

50. U9461192

Fantasic: Keep posting that:

Interesting:

Last September George Osborne pledged to match Labour's spending plans for the three years until 2010/11. The party almost certainly will not repeat the pledge. At most there'll be a pledge to match spending for one extra year if the election is called in 2010.

The decision has been taken for a number of reasons:

The deterioration of the economy and the public finances;

A need to create room for economy-boosting tax relief (David Cameron hints at the changed attitude to tax in The Sunday Telegraph);
A deep change in the public mood which now does not believe in the value of extra public spending.

One aide to Cameron siad "An incoming Conservative Government will inherit a desperately weak economy. Most voters realise that the economic situation is dire and will respect the first political party that levels with them. Restraint in public spending is the most important manifestation of the needed honesty."

deja vou anyone?

Ultimately the left have nowhere else to go. The LibDems, with the honourable exception of Mr Cable, are nowhere to be seen. After tea, biccies and hugging with Dave the unions will still be stuck with the reality that the aims of his business backers are at odds with those of organised labour.

Cameron's economic pronouncements, meanwhile, are a pretty thin warmed-over gruel of private enterprise, deregulation and devil-take-the hindmost - essentially the failed policies of 1997. Cameron's main asset at the moment is that he is Not Labour, and as such is subject to little serious scrutiny.

Wherever the fault may lie, NuLabour is currently caught up in (and contributing greatly to) a worldwide realignment of relative prosperity. Like it or not, many middle-eastern and asian countries have caught up and are wanting a bigger slice of the pie, partly at our expense. Cameron and his socially-privileged front bench will have the resouces to supplement their short rations. Some business supporters may even profit. However friendly his public image you know deep down that Cameron will not feel the pain felt by most of the population. You'll not see Cameron elbowing his way to the short-dated racks in Tesco or doing his own oil-changes. Suddenly the sour-faced son-of-the-manse may seem like the only straight man in town.

Dear Nick,

Am I that of a rebel that my blog is now over two hours late and still not here!

I put it down to your ever short lunch break and not that I printed such wicked drivel!

If I un-said the joke about MONERGY would that help?

Xxxx

You'll not see Cameron elbowing his way to the short-dated racks in Tesco or doing his own oil-changes. Suddenly the sour-faced son-of-the-manse may seem like the only straight man in town.

S'cuse me? The only straight man in town. Mathew Parris has something to say about that on one level but on another level I would say if he is the only straight (in the sense of 'honest') politician we can choose from then we are utterly doomed.

If he is the high-point in probity in public office then we might as well all cut our throats before his ID-card demanding Jackbootistas do it for us.

No more boom and bust? Balance the budget over the 'cycle'? I will not answer that question on increasing NI because otherwise I'll be here all night answering other questions on the hundreds of taxes that are constantly under review?

Straight man?

Ha. Ha ha ha. Hahahahahahahahaha.

People are upset and angry with you, Mr Brown. Why don't you listen? Why don't you make some changes? You will lose your job if you don't.

Nick
It is without doubt a tragedy that this slow-motion car crash is incapable of a speedy resolution. In the meantime the Country is being genuinely damaged by paralysis of Goivernment , unable to respond to major world events. The contrast with the response of authorities inthe USA is quite striking. Governments may not always be a force for good but by God they can certainly make things worse!

I don't think there is any mystery at all about how it looks like Brown will survive up to the next election with no serious leadership challenge.

As others have already said here, who on earth would be daft enough to take on the job of party leader now? They all know that all they would do is lead the party into certain defeat and be gone before the next election. There is no way anyone could turn the party around now.

Sensible labour MPs with their eye on the top job will wait until after the general election. GB's position will be untenable after leading the party into the biggest defeat for decades, and the new boy will have 5 years to prepare for the next general election, which they might actually win. By that time, we'll have had 5 years of the Tories and have all remembered why we voted labour in the first place back in 1997.

1) Nick - I laugh everytime I read your Blog, you try so hard to be neutral but it is so obvious you love Labour and all the lefty comrades.

2) If Harriet Harperson ever takes over as PM I will immigrate!

3) I hope after the next election that we dont see another Labour goverment ever again!

It's not just "Gordon in limbo" as Nick writes, but the whole country as we wait patiently for an opportunity to finally remove this failed Labour government from office at the ballot box

True, Brown has been the author (or co-author) of Labour's misfortunes, but the electorate must take some share of the blame for voting for the party in the first place.

Whatever happened to good old fashioned common sense? If you don't have the lolly, you don't buy a brolly.

Seems to me that the present government has forgotten the basics.

Sad state of affairs for the country in that all Labour Mps can do is choose between oblivion, or a good 18 month troughing followed by oblivion.

many times the similarities between the Berlin bunker in '45 and Downing street '08 have been pointed out, but for a different take on it, try googling gordon Brown's downfall - the prequel.

If nothing else it will cheer you up until the next bill hits the mat.

For shame.

@60 No that was a Polish dog. Mine wouldn't do it for less than 12 Bonios a week

Not one of your strongest pieces Nick but you put the finger on what I think everybody knew, that Labour were resigned to stick with him. It will be interesting to compare the different party conferences: the Lib Dems first (I think) then it's the Tories (in B'ham) then Labour (I think).
Both Labour and Conservatives are equally guilty in a) relying on market forces to sort out "public" sector problems and b) relying on money and private firms to do it. The tories did release I think last year a mini-manefesto pledgin ideas they would follow through, all involved business taking over more parts of our lives to sort it out.
Hopefully during the conferences we won't hear the same tattle from the speakers causing the same tattle to be spouted by most comments here, including my own. It just gets boring and makes you wonder a) about our politicians and b) about the people of the UK. I take it most commenting here didn't vote Labour in '97,'01 and'05.

And to those who think Nick is a bit to Labour leaning you did read his previous piece on the train with Mr Cameron. That was a bit too Tory leaning to me.

#75

I agree. Absolutely disgusting.

@72

I think you will find that the majority of the country did not vote for them at all.

Personally I know I directly voted against.

If memory serves they got around 36% of the vote the last time around. I am sure someone can correct that figure if incorrect

50. U9461192


I just had to have a read over lunch.

A few other quotes from the 1997 Labour manifesto:


Save to invest is our approach, not tax and spend.
New Labour will establish a new trust on tax with the British people.

Our long-term objective is a lower starting rate of income tax of ten pence in the pound.

We will examine the interaction of the tax and benefits systems so that they can be streamlined and modernised.
We will enforce the 'golden rule' of public spending - over the economic cycle, we will only borrow to invest and not to fund current expenditure.
We will ensure that - over the economic cycle - public debt as a proportion of national income is at a stable and prudent level.
Small business: We will cut unnecessary red tape.

We will be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime
Police on the beat not pushing paper
Crackdown on petty crimes and neighbourhood disorder

Protect the basic state pension and promote secure second pensions.

We will reject the boom and bust policies which caused the collapse of the housing market.

We will reform party funding to end sleaze



I could go on, but Im loosing the will to live.

@76

Ah yes the national minimum wage ;)

@78

Nick is impartial in much the same way that Red Lenins dog is partial to a bonio

Jack Staw has said

"It has become fashionable to have a go at Gordon at the moment but that will burn itself out "

It certainly will Jack, I'm predicting may 2010.

Tax tax tax. Spend spend spend. That's all we seem to hear these days.

Don't know about you chaps but I'm sick to the back teeth of this same old nonsense from Gordon Brown. Isn't it high time that he reviewed his position?

72) DistantTraveller


True, Brown has been the author (or co-author) of Labour's misfortunes, but the electorate must take some share of the blame for voting for the party in the first place.

The Tories warning slogan in the last election was ‘Vote Blair get Brown’ - if only ppl had listened to that warning.

Wheres Derek today

I miss his wit

They say:

We will examine the interaction of the tax and benefits systems so that they can be streamlined and modernised.

They mean:

We're going to impose the 'Tax Credit System'

They say:

We will enforce the 'golden rule' of public spending - over the economic cycle, we will only borrow to invest and not to fund current expenditure.

They mean:

The annual deficit just about covers the interest on our national debt.

They say:

We will ensure that - over the economic cycle - public debt as a proportion of national income is at a stable and prudent level.

They mean:

We'll rig the 'economic cycle' so that it is nebulous in time and space. We'll borrow hundreds of billions and declare a 'surplus' over the 'cycle'. What are you going to do about it?

They say:

We will reject the boom and bust policies which caused the collapse of the housing market.

They mean:

Actually, we won't. In fact we'll deliberately rig the system so it looks 'independent' but we'll make sure no allowance is made in interest rates to quell a nascent housing boom. In fact we'll borrow hundreds of billions with which to flood the economy to fuel a housing boom. That's what we're actually going to do.

They say:

We will reform party funding to end sleaze

They mean:

I will appoint all my closest friends to the only positions of authority that could possibly indict me.

#31 Pot_Kettle

This policy is like any other from Gordon Brown, veiled deceit. Behind the £910m headline you discover that we will end up paying. This is because what the energy companies lose through this deal they will pass on as costs to the people who were not eligible or already had insulation.

The treasury is broke and therefore he has nothing to offer in terms of relief other than rearranging the furniture. Why can't he just admit that?

72 - You need to look at the voting figures. You'll find that Labour polled less than 40% of a turnout that was less than 70%.

Not only did they only get somewhere around 22-25% of the entire avalable electorate, more people didn't vote than voted for them.

In fact the non-voters got it bang on the nail. They didn't vote for a government and a non-government is what we got.

88. U9461192

Good work, but you missed out my favorite

New Labour will establish a new trust on tax with the British people

The country is going to the dogs, anybody can see that.

It's high time we took a stand and I for one will not be mowing my lawn this weekend.

Suggest people of like mind consider something similar.

88. U9461192

Actually this is quite laughable.

The NuLabour manifesto stated:

We will examine the interaction of the tax and benefits systems so that they can be streamlined and modernised.

They impose the 'Tax Credit System'

Which results in:

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4407258.ece

#87

"OLIVERS ARMY" Is out in force today?

Mediocre replies from the frugal and small private cartel..........


"Heres a little thought for the offering"

What was the national debt left by the tories..... (1996 figs)

Do the neo-conservatives advocate a higher rate of interest 15%

We are at last seeing the fag end of this sad and in many people's opinion somewhat dangerous administration.
It is not only "the economy stupid" it is all the incompetence and failure to deal with the terrible issues that beset this poor benighted nation such as immigration, crime and a collapsing education system together with a general decline in the great institutions of state.
No amount of spin will cover over the cracks that everyone can see with their own eyes every day of the week.
The nation is in trouble and it will take a great deal of effort, courage and will to deal with very difficult situations, for any incoming government.

An interesting point..having been up here for three hours, I don't spot a single pro-Gordon post.

Do the newlabour posters not do Fridays or Friday afternoons?

Are they all in the pub telling fascinating stories about how to fiddle the benefits system?

Are they resigned to making the most out of their last eighteen months iin a "we're going down together, Biggles" moment?

Who will help them now?They bled the country dry and the Treasury won't pay for any more.

This sitaution is wothout precedent; a govenment paralysed by its own prior fiscal incontinence has had its hands bound fby the Treasury

Post #6 got the situation spot on - bankruptcy, or something very close to it, is staring us in the face.

Forex markets are telling you that - look at a chart of the trade-weighted value of Sterling over the last year and you will see exactly what the international markets make of it - it is a financial implosion. No one has yet told me where the UK is going to find thje estimated GBP 100 billion which needs to be spent over the next decade on maintaining energy supplies.

But before we can plan a route out of this - if this is even possible - we need to understand why this has happened.

And the answer is pretty straightforward - the usual Labour propensity for building up the bureaucracy, stinging the private sector tax payer to pay for it, and borrowing irresponsibly to keep the public sector caravanserai on the road.

In an era when IT should be driving down the cost of government, Labour has added armies of pen-pushers - one estimate I saw put this at 800,000 over the last eleven years.

Far from promising to maintain Labour's ruinous spending plans for two years, or a year, or even an hour, the Conservatives should promise an immediate cull of the administrative burden. The aim should be to hand out at least GBP 10 billion from admin cost-cuts. This would do far more to help hard-pressed consumers than any energy subsidy, let alone Brown's latest insulation gimmicks.

Well, out of the frying pan...

The silly season's over, so now we head into the wonderfully febrile party conference season, where much hot air is spouted in an attempt to rally the the tropp sand get some nice soundbites on the news programmes. for the rest of us, the conferences are an amusing irrelevance.

As for anything else, Brown is now suffering from the same problems Major did in the 90's. some of his problems are self-inflicted, some not. Unfortunately, those that aren't are the self same ones that the government tried to grab credit for when they were going well, so the public automatically ascribe fault when things turn.

While being politically agnostic, I don't have a raging hatred of Gordon Brown. I truly believe that he is sincere, and has the heavyweight qualities needed to do the job. He does lack a certain confidence however. Perhaps this comes from the feeling that he hasn't had a proper mandate for what he's doing? Who knows?

However, one thing Brown has been a driver of is the culture of the metric: nothing has meaning unless it can have a number assigned to it. I come from a science background and currently teach computing, so am not unused to the quotidian use of the metric, but the current over reliance on them is really quite frightening. The nightmare of SATs, school league tables and hospital league is utterly depressing. It's even creeping into Higher Education.

To all those people who worship the metric, I refer them to the words of Albert Einstein:
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
How very wise he was.

My house has cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and double glazing because I thought that was the right thing to do (prudent if you want a word..) will get absolutely no help to offset fuel bills increases? But I will pay indirectly when the energy companies charge more to finance the payment to the people who didn't do this?.
Oooh , that was thought through wasn't it
- and does it remind you of of the economic cycle borrowing. In good times perhaps we might have done the insulation for the bad winters - or did we just spent it like a drunken sailor - bit like Labour did ?
Thanks for nothing - enjoy your retirement GB when it comes

I read today that the price of oil is now down from $135 to $100 a barrel, and falling. If this is the case, we should be seeing some price reductions at the pumps.

Funny how the price of oil is linked to our energy bills when it suits the energy companies to put up the prices (and of course, the government make more money out of the VAT), but when the oil starts to fall in price, our high energy bills suddenly become due to a downturn in the world economy. It all stinks!