Britannia Radio

The idea propounded here by Iain Martin " that rather than him losing 
authority suddenly,  he has never really had it "  might have 
something to do with the fact that never having been elected as 
Leader of the Labour Party he has no authority there to start with.  
Then even more relevantly,  he has not just acted as a caretaker 
after a departing prime minister but sailed ahead as though he had a 
full mandate from the voters.  It's amazing that the voters are so 
tolerant about this usurpation of power.     They're waiting 
patiently  - some less patiently than others - for the day of reckoning.

Meanwhile there's the petition for him to go swiftly,  which, at 3pm 
today,  stands at 34,199 - - - coming along nicely!
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TELEGRAPH Blogs 30.4.09
What on earth is Gordon Brown's legacy going to be?

Posted by Iain Martin

It has been said so often in the past 24 hours that Gordon Brown's 
authority is draining away that there's no need to repeat it. That 
Lord Mandelson denied it on the Today programme, and then minutes 
later the Beeb was running the headline 'Mandelson denies Brown's 
authority is draining away', illustrates how bad things are. It makes 
the PM look weak on two counts - seeding the idea that authority is 
vanishing while suggesting that he needs his colleagues to prop him up.

This is a media narrative that John Major will recognise from his 
last couple of years in office and once it starts its corrosive work 
on a PM's reputation, there's no way back. Worse, people are also 
starting to laugh at him; the You Tube comedy dance over expenses set 
to techno being the latest example.

It's at moments such as this that the wounded occupant of a Number 10 
usually starts to think about legacy. They're having a horrible time, 
soon it will be over and they can have a lie down; but how will they 
be remembered by their countrymen?

On the big picture, at the moment it looks dreadful for Brown. He 
inflated a debt-fuelled bubble, the bursting of which is worse in 
Britain than it is elsewhere. However, his hope of some historical 
salvation on the economic front is if, in time, the bail-out of the 
UK banks comes to be seen as a success that steadied the ship.

But what of the legacy projects that PMs love? Wilson had the Open 
University, Major had the National Lottery, the Irish peace process 
and the return of economic growth after the disasters of the early 
1990s. Blair had Ireland again, the Olympics and the Dome (no forget 
that last one).

But what is the equivalent with Brown? I'm not trying to be unfair, 
but I really cannot think of anything - not a single, big public 
project or endeavour which will leave a mark. Am I wrong?

Perhaps he has been too busy, but I don't think that's it. I think he 
doesn't know how to use his power as PM, how to say 'make this 
happen' and then not get bogged down in detail and day to day 
distractions.

Eighteen months ago he was keen to back the building of a Museum of 
British History, to tell our great island story. We were enthusiastic 
here at the Telegraph, so were David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Readers 
loved the idea - there was talk of a site in central London. And then 
what? It has disappeared into the Whitehall black hole, despite the 
best efforts of the Culture Secretary. But a strong PM would have 
forced it through simply by letting it be known in the government 
machine that it had his blessing and was a must.

That case suggested to me that rather than him losing authority 
suddenly he has never really had it - at least not in any meaningful 
and productive way. In essence, he has never mastered being PM and 
wrongly associates excessive activity, busyness, with getting things 
done.

Of course, he took no advice on how to be PM. After all, who can 
teach the mighty Broon anything? Instead, he viewed his own arrival 
as the overdue return to the top job of a serious professional after 
a period in which a lightweight impostor, Blair, had been allowed ten 
years to mess things up. So, convinced of his brilliance as ever, 
Brown simply put his head down and charged ahead. He never slowed 
down for long enough to learn how to become good at being PM. That 
would have required a touch of humility or perhaps a personality 
transplant.

As a result, the Brown years look like they will be seen as just a 
blur of economic catastrophe, incompetence and, well, nothing else 
very much really.