Politics: Gordon Brown..the story so far.

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20 November 2007

"There's no wheels on my wagon and Im still rolling along!"

ah I remember that amusing American song when I was a kid. The Cherokees were chasing the guys wagon, promising allsorts of a comeuppance if they caught him, and as he went along he kept losing a wheel... three wheels on my wagon and so on..two wheels. A gradual erosion of a strong situation by any other name.

Gordon Brown started off with all his wheels intact. He hit the ground running ( or rolling!) and was surprisingly popular with the British public. His popularity caught the Tories by surprise. They tried spinning it as 'the brown bounce'. Except the bounce wasnt a bounce as it kept right on going, longer than a bounce would, and yes the Tories were worried. Suddenly David Cameron, the Tory Leader, was looking toothlessly weak, and seemingly unable to dent the dour exterior of the new Prime Minister.

After the flamboyant and charismatic leadership of Tony Blair, we were all ready for a bit of spit and boot polish, and perhaps a dollop of dour northern or even scottish grit. Brown certainly looked the part and was well known to us. He had that miserable worn look and the image of a guy tight with money. But that's what we all needed..right? He had a +40 rating with the voting public. The press were on his side.

But oh dear! How it has all changed. The press are no longer on his side. Every week a new spate of knocking, damaging articles appear, across all the newspapers, and his rating has taken a whopping slide all the way from that glorious +40 to a -10. But why, pray, he hasnt taken us into any wars, he hasnt committed too many economic disasters, he hasnt been involved in a Clinton type scandal, yet his unpopularity gathers universal momentum at a concerning pace.

There is one major reason for this tarnished halo...he is a ditherer. We, the public, cant stand a ditherer. Get things wrong by all means, but believe in what you are doing, and we can forgive it all...but dither over what to do next and you've had your chips. Gordon dithers. He dithered notoriously over the Election that never was. He dithers at the Despatch Box in The House, and looks unsure and unconvincing. His hand shakes disastrously there while holding his papers, giving the distinct impression he is in the wrong place and in the wrong job. Perhaps even now he is still, still envious of the man whose job he envied for so long..because he was good at it. I speak of course of Tony Blair.

HOWARD MCSWEENEY, DOVER wrote:
you may be right there, he is coming across as indecisive.
still, early days yet.

i do wonder whether he spent too long as number two, and is finding it hard to adjust.
keith, Dover wrote:
As Iv stated in many other articles lets wait and see gordon will still be PM after next gen election sooner the better
Barry Williams, Dover wrote:
Its more serious than just being a diverer.

He cannot handle PMQ's which in itself is not a disaster but what it has done is undermine his authority in his Party and altered the way the press see him and how he is reported and it is that which will see the end to his Premiership.

Added to that people are starting to see the real impact of his term at the Treasury. They are increasingly seeing that he was not all he was cracked up to be. Ultimately it is the economy, as always, that will see the end of his Government.

The link below takes you to a document by the Policy Exchange that is quite damming of his turn at the Treasury. More and more people are seeing throught the spin and his poor stewardship is starting to make itself felt in the lives of ordinary people. His incompetence was once something that was only seen by the experts, hidden by an economy kept artificially alive on a sea of debt and high house prices. The bubble is bursting....

Look at this if you dont believe me....
www. policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/303.pdf

I have had to put a space after www. to get it uploaded so you will need to copy and paste, then remove the space.
keith, Dover wrote:
barryw
I dont want to spoil your party, but the people like the 3 elections before will decide.

I was never aBlair fan but he did I suppose what needed to be done to get rid of your lot.

The press will always atack the Government of the day, that has never changed, and it is sad that some people even believe everything they read in the press!

I thought at the last general election that the electorate might punish Labour as a protest, but it didn't happen.
This is both at a local and national levels.
Gwyn remains, as does Labours big majority.

The best the tories can hope for is a hung parlianment then the few lib dems (who have also lost there way)could prop up the tories

bUT I will say again, let the people decide
Guest 640 wrote:

There was a while there when Gordon was riding so high I felt he could sweep all before him. But Im not sure now. In the end Tony Blair wasnt everyones cup of tea but history will see him as a very successful Labour Prime Minister. Gordon is finding out there is actually more to doing the job than just wanting to do it. Tony Blair had huge public relation skill levels that was clear to see, Im afraid Gordon doesnt have those skills. WE all knew that but now in comparison to Blair the shortfalls are obvious.

Yes Gwyn has been a great electoral success in Dover. Three wins that has always got to be respected. Especially when there used to be a Conservative MP before. How did it all go so badly wrong for the Tories at local level?
..it was before my time
Barry Williams, Dover wrote:
PaulB - Back in the 1960's Dover had David Ennals as its Labour MP and up until 1974 elections Dover was pretty much a swing seat in the hands of the Governing party. (Arbuthnot, Conservative before Ennals)

Peter Rees won in 1970, beating Ennals who I have to say was a very good MP even if the 'wrong colour'.

Peter was highly regarded as an excellent MP and won in Feb and oct 1974 against the National trend.

Peter's successor after he retired, David Shaw, did not achieve anything like Peter's popularity. I like him and he was in my view badly treated by some quarters, I suppose his 'face' did not fit and I can understand why.

In 1997 Dover swung with the country, back to the way Dover always used to swing with the winning Party, as before Peter Rees. It was no particular merit of Gwyn Prosser, he has just managed to catch the tide. The same tide that swept Labour into power and kept it there for 3 elections.

The tide now is turning, tides do just that, eventually, and Gwyn Prosser is less secure now. He has not achieved the high regard from accross the political spectrum that Peter Rees achieved (or David Ennals come to that), he has too much local baggage and, lets face it, he has a poor reputation and is seen as a particularly partisan MP, in office for the benefit of the Labour Party and supporters not all his Constituents. A look at the letterhead he uses is proof of that. Where Peter Rees was Member of Parliament for Dover on all letters, Gwyn is Labour Member of Parliament for Dover and that difference sends out a message... (to those fortunate enough to get a reply that is...)
keith, Dover wrote:
PAULB/BARRYW

Of course i'm not going t agree with our barry

I did meet David Ennals and yes what I saw of him he was a good MP

but like most MP's they forget there also there to represent local opinion and I feel D Ennals/Peter rees/D Shaw failed in this respect

On the question of D Shaw I met him a number of times and fo und him arrogant, talked down to people, spent to much time chasing lost causes in Scotland(rather than big issues at the time happening in Dover)

Although that said one of D Shaw's plus's was he used to reply to all letters with a small personal comment.
only thing was sometimes the personal comment would be close to abusive
even to non political people.

Gwyn has always been a peoples person, I dont always agree with his politics but I prefer him to Shaw who clearly preferred to spend lots of time in Scotland on lost causes.

I think the Dover/Deal will remain Labour unless this unknown conservative can get his act together over the years,
and not to many more DC blunders.

It has always amazed me the issues people actually will vote for a political party on sometimes it can have no relevance whatsover to that party.

its also very worrying on voter turnout, younge people are still switched off by politics, and a lot of work needs to be done to change that

oh lets wait and see our gordon get in
Guest 640 wrote:
Thanks for that full history there BarryW and Keith. I wasnt really aware what went on here before, so all that is very useful to know. It will prove interesting reading to some of the towns newer inhabitants.
Barry Williams, Dover wrote:
MPs do not represent local opinion - just define 'local opinion' and you will see how daft that suggestion is.

MPs are elected to represent their Constituency, to support the manifesto on which they were elected, to represent the PEOPLE of that Constituency in helping them resolve their problems (whatever party they voted for) and above all to listen to those they elected and where necessary explain Government policy and justify any position taken on issues . They should also (non-politically) fight for the good on the area they represent in many ways.

I suspect keef meant the latter but did not express it well.

The problem with GP is his excessive partisanship that comes accross in everything he says and does. As I describe him, he is Labours representative in Dover, not Dover's representative in Parliament.

Only keef can make such unsupported and inaccurate statements, as he has, about all our previous MP's Labour and Conservative.
keith, Dover wrote:
I can justify everything I put on this forum (barry w)

Do you want me to put my open honest view???

either its yes or we can jst look at your one sided postings??

I WAS trying to point out the faults of both Labour and tory past MP's
and like you do in most postings barryw you attack the labour govt/MP
at every opportunity

when i tell you what i have witnessed over the years you tend to get out of your pram, are you the only one allowed to have a view?
Guest 667 wrote:

Gordon and the Labour Party are dropping clanger after clanger and Gordon is not standing up very well to the flak. However if there was a General Election tomorrow I would struggle to know which way to vote.

Labour are as I said loosing their way with no fight back at the moment.

The Conservatives are just throwing idea after idea into the pot as so called vote catching policies and you know dam well most will never see the light of day if they were put in power.

The Liberals, well they are lost at sea looking for a Captain to steer them in some sort of Direction.

So only time will tell.
Guest 640 wrote:
..talk about wagons rolling along...poor ould Gordon's wagon is just about still rolling along, but in the deep deep mire right now. The Labour Government under him cant seem to get anything right for the moment. Its up to its neck in muck n bullets....again! Now we are submerged in another Cash scandal with dodgy donations pouring in from all directions but from a hidden single source. This is against the law.

It looks like the rest of the cabinet are hurling hapless Harriet Harman, sweet looking minister for something or other, before the cannons to absorb perhaps fatally all the flak. She looks like an easy target but a too easy target.

A tired looking Gordon, and he is only doing the job a proverbial wet day, cant seem to keep the lid on it all. While at the same time the polls are haemorraging Labour voters. Woe, woe, thrice woe....
howard mcsweeney1 wrote:
the whole thing is looking like the last days of the john major government.

i felt sorry for him then and for gordon brown now, in a massive job like that you cannnot know everything that is going on.

paul made a sympathetic comment about ms harman, both she and mr benn received the same dosh from the same source, mr benn checked it out and refused it.

she accepted the money, no questions asked.

enough said, i think.
keith, Dover wrote:
Funny how you can caugt by your own legislation.
Don't forget it was because of all the Tory sleaze that Labour had to bring this in.

But those in the Labour party who knowingly broke rules must suffer the
consequences.

I have to admit it aint been a good week for Gordon or the Labour party
but time will tell if an effective opposition will ever be in position in time for a general election.
Barry Williams, Dover wrote:
Howard - I agree totally with what you say here. The political scene has reached a tipping point with a distinct air of decay about this Government. John Major had it and now Gordon Brown.

If GB would accept advice, be less obstinate, listen more to those outside his inner circle, he might, just might be doing better. Leopards dont change their spots however and while I would expect him to have better weeks ahead, the whole public perception of this Government has shifted. With the economic difficulties increasing it will be very difficult, if not impossible now, for him to turn this around.

There is more bubbling away too that will rear its head to bite him.....
Barry Williams, Dover wrote:
Keith.

John Major certainly lost his grip and we all know what happened there but the difference is that Blair came to power, having highlighted sleeze and beating the Conservatives over the head with it, claiming he would be 'whiter than white'.

Yet this Labour administration was riddled with sleeze from the very start, cash for honours, those Indian brothers, Mandelson (twice..), cronism and more....

As I have said before, Brown's shaking hands at PMQ's show that he has registered the fact that he has a formidable opposition even if you have not. We are now being listened to, foreign heads of Government are treating DC as a PM in waiting along with the press to a much, much greater degree than with Howard, Duncan Smith and Hague ever were. Make no mistake, we did not fire off all our ammo in the run up to the election that never was, plenty left in the shot locker for nearer the time when it will count most.