So Gordon Brown has:
-held a confidential 'star chamber' within the Labour Party which has seen several Labour MPs barred from re-standing. David Cameron has said much, with his trademark furrowed brow and cross voice but he has done very little by way of disciplining his MPs, who make up the great majority of miscreants in the whole expenses farrago.
[Can we pause a moment to enjoy the word 'farrago'? I'm quite pleased with that. 'Farrago'.]
-hinted at electoral reform, thus warming the hearts of Lib Dem inclined voters. Now most of us would rather sleep with a rattlesnake than trust Gordon Brown but it is a very apparent 'feeler' from Brown, as noted by the reliable Andrew Grice in the Independent last Saturday. The Tories have hummed and hawed and basically defended the status quo.
-suggested that reform of the House of Lords might actually happen after 12 years of broken promises. I can't see John Tory supporting any meaningful reform of the Lords.
-done something to address the economic crisis. It may not be perfect, it may have been pisspoor, it may not work but it compares favourably with the only Tory pledges, which amount to austerity, swingeing cuts and tax breaks for the wealthiest in the land.
-slung out the Speaker unceremoniously and is no doubt plotting to get his preferred candidate in. What's the betting the Tories squeal, whoever gets it.
I've been happy to condemn him all along but it seems Brown might just be playing the long game and assembling an array of initiatives and attacks on the Tories which, if unlikely to deliver outright victory, might just keep it from the clutches of Dave and his delightful cohorts who, even as we sit back and enjoy the bunfight, are reverting to type.
The £64,000 expenses claim for a floating duck island remains where this leaves us? It seems to me, as it has all along, that the best attack remains on the Tories. Labour are going to suffer next year - which now seems the most likely option - and simply not being Labour will gain us support whatever Brown does, so our best chance of advancement is surely by playing up our ability to actually think a little and promise something new, as opposed to Cameron's carefully thought through - and clever, as far as it goes - strategy of (i) not upsetting the horses (ii) not committing to anything much (iii) er (iv) that's it...
It's nice that politics has got interesting again.
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3 comments:
"-done something to address the economic crisis. It may not be perfect, it may have been pisspoor, it may not work but it compares favourably with the only Tory pledges, which amount to austerity, swingeing cuts and tax breaks for the wealthiest in the land."
"Something", if it is the wrong thing is worse than nothing, especially when (as politically unpalatable it is) nothing, or very little is the best long term response.
It remains to be seen, but the so-called Keynesian response creates further problems by deferring that essential function of all markets, recession.
Deferring recession via government and central bank intervention 4-5 years ago is the direct reason for the credit bubble, massive mal-investment and current "much bigger than it needed to be" recession.
For that reason, my hypothesis is that Gordo has screwed up on the economy big time, even if it may seem to have worked in the short term. And as St Vince pointed out the other day, it may not work at all outside of the finance and banking sector.
Don't get me wrong, I am not for a second seeking to defend the Labour government, I am simply pointing out that Gordon Brown does appear to be developing a good strategy for the next election.
Remember that you are economically literate, whereas the vast majority of voters - including me, I should add - are not so simple messages will work better than sophisticated ones. Think 'the Pound in your pocket' or the simplistic homilies of a certain grocer's daughter.
Ahem, at weekends 'wit and wisdom' is 'purple bloomers'...
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