The Labour Party knew Tony Blair had to go when he became an electoral liability.
Less than a year into the job, where does Gordon Brown stand in terms of this all-important marker?
Well, don’t expect any answers from Labour’s candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.
Tamsin Dunwoody refused to come up with a straight answer in when she was asked the question repeatedly by a reporter. You can see the interview in the You Tube clip below.
“Gordon Brown is our prime minister” and a number of variations on that theme was her reply.
The Conservatives, whose leader David Cameron is back on the campaign trail in Crewe and Nantwich on Thursday, are gleefully circulating the clip of her interview, complete with an awkward-looking John Denham (minister for universities and skills) standing by.
Brown has been noticeably absent from the northern constituency in the run-up to next week’s by-election, which opinion polls show his party could lose to the Tories, despite it being regarded as a safe Labour seat.
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23 comments so far
Although I am not voting Labour, I do feel that Brown has become the centre of just a little bit of persecution. Terms like scapegoat and whipping boy come to mind: how convenient for Blair - the guy who took this country into a morally bankrupt war!
He is definitely NOT responsible for the international ills that are coming thick and fast: sub-prime; food shortage; natural disasters, etc. People need to get real and stop blaming him for stuff he has no influence over. Let’s be fair
And Cameron is looking just a little bit like a vulture: I just think his visceral attacks on Brown could show a lack of wisdom. I do not trust Cameron with the economy, either: something disturbs me. Would the Tories be any good with it? I doubt that a lot,
My money is on Clegg - call mne mad - even though the voters still have their heads in the sand. He’s a gutsy but intelligent guy: he’s reliable.
Brown MUST be given a chance to prove himself, and his own party needs to be fare and allow him to do so.
He has been a great chancellor in some ways, and, frankly, I welcome his personality as a foil to the photogenic smiley-smiley politics of Blair which made me wretch. He and his dispretable memoir-publishing wife should be ashamed of themselves. They are definitely using Brown as a scapegoat, and showing moral weakness toboot.
He must be better than Blair!
- Posted by Keith M WarwickKeith
- Posted by Alexto say that Gordon Brown was a great Chancellor is wrong - he raided the pension funds, sold off our gold reserves and allowed the UK to build up the highest levels of personal debt in Europe - He also spend billions of pounds on badly thought out and priced PFI initiatives and ineffective public spending - I won’t mention Northern Rock or various other disasters.
No one is blaming him for food shortages, US sub prime or natural disasters - He is simply being held to account for decisions that he made, and areas that he was responsible for.
like you I agree that there is no particular need to personalise/demonise the attack - but lets be objective and remove the ‘iron chancellor’ myth. Be real and be fair.
The fact is right now Brown is a liability to Labour, but 2 important provisos- (a) They don’t have anyone else and (b) Things can change- just think last Summer before he bottled out of calling the election.
As Chancellor he took over the best economic situation any Chancellor had taken over at least since WW2- Ken Clarke had got the economy running really very well. The best that can be said after that is he did not blow it up completely.
In addition to the items mentioned by Alex, taxes have soared, spending has soared with little measurable result (eg treatments in NHS have grown more slowly since the big splurge started a few years back than when spending growing slower under the last Government) and worst of all total Government debt has soared- if of course you include pension liabilities for civil service etc and all the off balance sheet stuff (PFIs, Network Rail and many more)- which the Government has been hiding a la Enron.
- Posted by Joe FPeople seem to forget that he-Brown- raided the pensions funds taking millions of pensioners into extreme financial difficulty. He has burdened industry with so much red tape that in most companies they employ a person just to keep up with it. He has imposed high taxes on fuel. He appears to be a control freak. He finds it impossible to answer straight forward questions.His dememour, facial expressions, he looks like he’s sucking on a lemon (he can’t smile properly and when he does it appears totally insincere) his dress sense etc. I feel ashamed when he is representing the UK overseas. He admits that he “is not a media person”. Mr Brown, it’s part of the job; if you can’t hack it please, please GET OUT. As for Tamsin Dunwoody (I live in Nantwich) she lives in South Wales and has no connection with Crewe & Nantwich other than through her excellent Mother. She is a total hypocrite and another one who steadfastly refuses to answer straight forward questions, unlike her Mother.
- Posted by Malcolm DavisHe has not been elected to the post - he is clearly not up to the job. Its a case of him being promoted to a position beyond his abilities. He should call an election now and let the people decide.
- Posted by Sean TaylorThe clearest indicator of his performance is that in the role of both Chancellor AND Prime Minister he has remarkably been able to mastermind a growing Gov debt in spite of 11 years of economic growth(and record income tax receipts).
It would be very hard indeed to find a bigger fool.
- Posted by Nick RileyIn response to Keith M, Warwick.
why should we give him time….has he not been no.1 or no.2 in command of a goverment that has been in power for 11 years…how much more time do u want to give him?
perhaps we could give him time to start a few more unecessary wars costing this country billions in wasted tax payers money…
more time to recoup his gold he sold for a tenth of the price…
more time to borrow more money to save his skin in labours heartlands….
more time to ravage our pensions….
more time to continue his goverments spy by camera way of life….
more time to allow prisoners to leave jail after a third of their suggested terms…
more time to allow our economy to implode…
more time to take more tax from us….
as for david cameron being a vulture…thats rich alongside Mr. Browns behaviour in getting the job in the first place!
face it Keith no one wants this guy in charge and even the media who have so frothily supported tony blairs labour have jumped ship and realised the guy is unelectable to the vast majority of good hard working tax paying english people.
- Posted by Roger BenstoneIt seems to me that Gordon Brown played every trick in the book to maintain the illusion that he could manage the economy so that it achieved sustained growth. He did this largely by allowing consumer spending to be driven by debt and created a “I want it now” culture when it was uncool to save up for things.
- Posted by Paul DavisOur debt ridden society is now paying the price big time. Agreed that international pressures have caused a slow down that was beyond his control. But in my opinion we have been living on borrowed time for a number of years.
His debt fueled hot UK economy strategy is now making the impact of these pressures much worse.
Brown is a blue sky politician who has now seen some clouds in the sky and has no idea how to deal with them. He is short on ideas and trapped in catch up mode trying maintain the support of the Mail and Express.
His defence in interviews lacks credibility and comes across as lacking integrity.
Time for him to go.
He is the Prime Minister of our Nation state and to that effect we should stand by him.
- Posted by The AmbassadorThe energy and utility assets as well as minerals and oil and wind energy in relation to renewables are properties and assets of God bestowed to the Government for the betterment of the people and the nation state as a whole. They should always be under the management of the Government of the day and thus nationalised for the betterment of the people. They should never be used for profiteers.
I think that we all should respect the wisdom and gravitas of God for his word is paramount. All Nation States should thus be multilateralists and serve for the betterment of their people.
The plutocracy to which exist in the world today is bestowed by God and we should all respect that.
Yes we are in an economic downturn however there is a vision for the future as well as hope and that is the most important of all.
This behavious is nothing more than I have come to expect from a Government in its death throws, currently placed third in the popular vote behind the Liberal Democrats.
Go here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/ may/14/conservatives.localgovernment?gus rc=rss&feed=politics to discover Ms Dunwoody’s tactics to hold her mother’s seat.
Then again, what more could you expect from a party that enact hundreds of superfluous legislations, offload the majority of this country’s gold bullion at a rediculously low price, sell their respective stories for lucrative book deals, then shut up shop and remain tight lipped regarding the cash-for-honours scandal? And that our esteemed prime minister (Chancellor, of course, at the time) remained so clueless as to where these millions came from to fill the Labour coffers.
I give up.
- Posted by IanGordon Brown is still the country’s best hope. Far better than the smug, untested public school boo boys that think it is their God-given right to rule. Sadly Britain’s celebrity political interviewers are in a competition to see who can ask our Prime Minister the most insulting questions. The political Press pack in full cry is a most unpleasant sight. It’s interesting that Roger Benstone only mentions the English and not the British in his comment.
- Posted by Raymond AndersonRather interestingly, I’d also like to point out how many more of the Labour cabinet have attented public schools, whilst the majority of the Tory shadow-cabinet have NOT.
- Posted by IanGordon Brown is still the country’s best hope. Far better than the smug, untested public school boo boys that think it is their God-given right to rule. Sadly Britain’s celebrity political interviewers are in a competition to see who can ask our Prime Minister the most insulting questions. The political Press pack in full cry is a most unpleasant sight. It’s interesting that Roger Benstone only mentions the English and not the British in his comment.
- Posted by Raymond Anderson
because i am english mr. anderson and i really do not want a scottish prime minister who does not allow my english members of parliament to have any say on his countries way of life.
i am also, like i think many scots, in favour of the breakage of the union.
as for public school boo boys….have u met of them to make such a statement?
are you also suggesting that anyone who went to public school is a boo boys and feels they have a right to govern the country?
seems to me you have got locked into the old labour theory that conservatives are simply ‘toffs’!
thought we had got past the days when we had a class divide but clearly the only way for gordon brown to mobilise his troops is to take us back to the intolerable days of kinnock and co!
as for being the best hope…yes i have noticed that in the past few months.
and the journalists….so its all their fault is it?
nothing to do with gordon and his gold, his wars, his over taxation, his non-election, his lies, his ‘getting on with the job’ statements, his dethroning of tony blair, his non elected status and on and on and on.
Raymond i would make a suggestion to you…come round to my house and see how much money i have left at the end of the month after i have paid all of gordons bills….
then tell me he is our only hope
- Posted by Roger BenstoneIs it not time we had some one in number ten who is elected to the post and has a clue what WE the people require from a Government….
- Posted by Steve DThe arrogance is all but astounding but then we are taking of politicians
The demise of NuLabour is a logical outcome of their betrayal of the nation. It is not about the 10p. That was merely the manifestation of a deeper anger. NuLabour are on their way into oblivion because they had the arrogance to put everyone else first and our own people last. Where once the Labour Party stood for rights of the working man, and fairness to the less fortunate, they are now just a nasty and corrupt party who persecutes families, plunder the taxpayers, and promote every form of wickedness imaginable. I imagine this NuLabour government will go down in history as the worst government this country ever had; the government that sold our nation down the river.
- Posted by meltonmarkBrown must stay. He is our best hope for a change of government at the next election.
- Posted by Mike TI feel that the thing most people abhor about Mr Brown,were his ’stealth taxes’. These gives the perception of a dishonest individual,without the courage to face the consequence of his actions. It treats the citizen like some sort of idiot,who can ‘have the wool pulled over their eyes’. If closely examined,such as the huge and increasing National Debt,one wonders if he truly deserves the accolade of having been such a wonderful Chancellor? These debts will have to be repaid!
- Posted by Laurence Mastersonwhat short memories we have again..the labour party has done so much good for the ordinary man.gordon brown has made our economy strong, better than most in europe.inflation is better than euroland, employment better than most in euroland..worls events cannot be controlled by one samll country. same old thing from the tories.. say anthing to get elected, deliver nothing for the ordinary man. cut public services to all, to fund tax relief for the rich..we’re falling for it again…. give brown a chance to listen and act!
- Posted by m davisI saw Hazel Blears on Question time last night trying to defend Brown. Slightly hysterical and had nothing to say.
- Posted by LobitoShe knows very well that Brown and the whole pack of ‘em have gone tits up.
With reference to my earlier comments. On reflection,I feel that the adjective ‘dishonest’ is too harsh and should be replaced by ‘devious’.
- Posted by Laurence MastersonThere’s no doubt he is now. I think the best way forward for labour is a new leader, and preferably this time a woman. Someone like Cherie or Harriet would be a good option.
- Posted by janeWhat we need is for all this local election news to scare Labour into getting rid of Brown and getting rid of their current taxation policies. Replacing him with someone like Miliband sounds pretty smart.
Labour is by far the better choice for your average person, but not under the condition the party is in now.
- Posted by Slaterthe damage was done in the BLAIR/BROWN years, quite frankly it will take a miracle to get back to the Britain most of us would like to return to. Oh how the electorate were conned,, all those years of high tax and wasted money.Its a pity it could not be made a criminal offence!
- Posted by bs carter