Gordon Brown

I've just been reading Gordon Brown's biography, by Tom Bower. Bower is chiefly known for his biographies of the likes of Tiny Rowlands and Robert Maxwell, which were very scholarly and well-researched. This one doesn't quite match those standards - his sources aren't noted, and his own (fairly right wing) opinions often peer out from behind his supposedly objective veil. That said, he convincingly demonstrates that Brown is, at best, a conniving, power-hungry, mendacious dissembler - and at worst an unstable megolamaniac liar.

To take one example: Brown's commitment - as opposed to his achievement - to eradicating poverty has always endeared him to those who wanted to 'vote Blair, get Brown', imagining that there was going to be some sort of quasi-socialist state slipped in by the back door. Unfortunately, the book - and a number of others - have shown that a) Brown was as deeply important to, and as much an architect of, New Labour as much as Tony Blair ever was, and that b) although he was in theory committed to reducing poverty as an almost personal crusade, his methods - working families tax credits, stealth taxes etc - resulted in confusion amongst those supposed to administer and receive the benefits, increased expenditure - overall tax rates rose for all - and most importantly signally failed in their main purpose (two authorative recent studies showed that the gap between rich and poor had widened in the past 10 years, and that those in poverty have a lower reading/writing attainment than 10 years ago, meaning that their chances of escaping poverty are greatly lessened).

One of the chief reasons for his failure was his inability to listen to the advice of senior civil servants - who, because they disagreed with him, had to go - and to continue ploughing ahead when in practise, e.g with tax credits, his schemes were obviously failing him. Alastair Campbell is generally thought to be the one who labelled Brown as having 'psychological flaws'. As more people look at his history, and how it's now coming home to roost - the credit crisis that results from a deliberate policy instigated in order to finance his changes to the economy, the criminal pensions changes which have left many working class people financially bereft, to name but two - and how he responds to crises - that hurt scowl, appearing to not comprehend how somebody can possibly disagree with him and, even worse, challenge him - we can begin to agree with Campbell; and, as more of us do, the less his chances of survival.

So, here's a prediction; a General Election by May, and a hung parliament.

(Photo by didby graham on Flickr)