I think he’s depressed. I suspect he’s been depressed for his whole adult life, mind you. But he’s just moved to a big new job and that’s triggered a crisis. Everything about his behaviour shouts depression. He’s turned in on himself. His instinct when things get tough has always been to retreat – hide out, pull the duvet over his head. He hates the aggro and the nasty, rude attention he gets from the opposition and the media.
He doesn’t rise to it. There’s no fight in him. It must be frustrating to work with him when he’s like this. All around him people must be urging him to get a grip, kick some ass, get out into the world and make a difference. But still, nothing.
Where is he this morning, for instance? Has he varied his schedule to sort out the funding mess? Doesn’t look like it. As usual he’s hiding behind a compliant phalanx of cabinet members. He’s in doors, wringing his hands when he ought to be striding the public stage, dishing out the presbyterian tongue-lashings, roasting Humphrys on Today, firing everyone within half a mile of the scandal, reshuffling, rewriting the rules, bringing forward legislation, hosting meetings, taking control!
Why is there still anyone at all at work in the party’s fund-raising bunker? Why aren’t they all licking their wounds in Starbucks, thinking about a change of career? Where’s the evidence that Brown takes this diabolical shambles seriously, either morally or politically? The Blair instinct – to turn a political nightmare into an opportunity to shine as a man, as a leader – is cruelly absent. Brown’s in a funk.
Here’s my conclusion. He fooled us all (well, me anyway). I saw tough, dour, implacable, unruffled. I missed terrified, lost, out-of-his-depth, passive, ineffective. This is a very scary time for Labour and for Britain and the man in charge has lost his grip, his marbles and his balls. Go on Gordon, prove me wrong.
You read it here first.
Incisive, insightful.
Thinking about it now, you might be right.
And even if you’re not – isn’t it more than a little worrying that you could even posit this credibly?
Nice one. Spot on. I wish your blog would remember who I am so I don’t have to do more typing of my details than my comment.
Wow Mr Bowbrick has finally made some sense. Brown has always been liked this, but with Blair to draw fire the Labouristas could tell themselves Brown’s flaws did not matter.
Well they do, the public and the media have noticed and Brown and his sorry party are doomed. If this is bad now imagine how it will be in 18 months with the economy on the skids and god know what else to torment him.
The media are beginning to believe Cameron might replace Brown at the next election and that can easily become a self fulfilling prophecy. Sky are already talking about him as the next PM and the BBC are just in denial, the left wing nutters.
For someone who has had to suffer the pain of this Labour government for ten long years, watching Brown destroy himself and his party is excellent fun.
The Champagne is on ice ready for May 2010.
Ah, Mr Ferris, we’ve been expecting you. And gracious as ever! We welcome your support at this difficult time! :->
Poor Old Gordon.
I agree, I think Gordon Brown is depressed. He has taken power at a very unfortunate time. I’m not saying a great leader, but I think the media are tending to blame him for nearly everything and sometimes its a bit too much, blaming him for some things that aren’t really his fault. The economy lest we forget, is a global crisis rather than just a National one, and we’d had it good for ages during the Nineties and Noughties, so I think we had it coming sooner or later.
For any right-wingers out there laughing in glee, I really can’t see Cameron doing a better job, if anything, the Tories would make our National situation worse, if the eighties are anything to go by -and as for London electing Boris Johnson, personally, I think the voting was a fix. As unpopular as Labour are lately, I really don’t know how anyone could vote for Johnson, the man is a disgrace after what he said about Liverpool. He shouldn’t have ran in the first place. Luckily though he’s got 2 years to prove his inefficiency, so it may not necessarily be Labour being the sole “villains”, come 2009 and 2010.