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The problem, howard, that Brown is prone to a lot more errors because of his personality traits in a very real sense, so much that he himself has become a political issue.
Give you a few examples of his erros and misjudgements:
The sale of gold. It is a fact that gold was at an all time low when he announced to the world that he was going to sell half our reserves. The markets reacted in the way they do naturally and gold fell further as a result, so when it was sold even less money was obtained for it. Since the sale the price of gold has steadily risen and now it is at an all time high. Gordon Brown was advised against this action by his Treasury advisers and he chose to ignore them. Any market trader in Portabello will tell you Brown was wrong and that you should not announce your intention, it does not take a genius, they would also tell you to buy at a low price and sell on a high, the opposite to what brown decided.]
Next - he changed the banking regulation from one of tight regulation with a clear line of responsibility to the Bank of England to one where there was a tri-partied system with not clear responsibility and a 'light touch' regulation. The result of this has been the adoption of questionable banking practices over the last 12 years and the participation in America's Clinton inspired lending bubble, all with disasterous consequences for the bank and the taxpayer.
Then he gave the Bank of England control over interest rates with a clear inflation brief. The problem was that the 'brief' was wrong and excluded any consideration of the level of credit in the economy. We therefore had interest rates set without reference to the credit markets and the result, a huge housing and credit card bubble that has now burst. It is this combined with the regulation change that has so wrecked our domestic banking.
I will not list the many errors he made, against advice, to private pensions. The result of a whole series of bad policy has been the near destruction of pension savings in the UK. Final salary occupational pensions are now as rare as rocking horse poo and personal pensions are no really being sold much any more to those who need them most.
Then there is public spending and borrowing. Initially he gained a reputation for prudence in the period when he had to keep to his manifesto pledge to stick to Ken Clarke's fiscal plan. As soon as that pledge expired he set about an unprecedented borrowing and spending binge. He increased borrowing, both on and off balance sheet, during the growth period when Governments should be repaying debt. he actually said that he had banned 'boom and bust' and I do think he believed what he said and that is why he kept on borrowing. No-one else believed him of course, the economy always goes in cycles of growth and recession, it is a fact of life whatever Governments do. So when the economy starts to slow down, at a point when Government borrowing should be allowed to rise, the UK was already borrowing far more than is healthy. We are now facing a massive problem with, even at low interest rates, the amount spent on interest by the Government is more than is spent on education. It is getting worse every day.
Gordon Brown said that the Uk 'is better prepared for the recession than any other major nation'. So why is it we were first into the recession, that it is deeper than other major nations and we will emerge from it after other 'major nations'.
What about his many 'slips of the tongue' - I saved the world, 0% growth, and so on....
There is a lot more about his period in public office that demonstrates his lack of competence, to 10% tax band fiasco for instance, but I think I have got the message accross....
OK , I will give him credit and praise him for one thing - he did not take us into the Euro. yes even Gordon Brown got one thing right in his 12/13 year in office.
he will go down in history as the worse Chancellor and PM ever.