TELEGRAPH 4.5.09
Gordon Brown's detractors won't stop until he has gone
Hazel Blears's ridicule of Gordon Brown is a clear sign that his fate
is sealed, says Philip Johnston.
and we squelched our way through a late winter storm to the Connaught
Rooms in central London for what, at the time, seemed like a historic
moment in British politics: the formal launch of the Social
Democratic Party, or SDP.
On the platform for the press conference were four politicians
familiar to all the journalists called to witness the birth of this
new force. They had been dubbed the "Gang of Four" and had held
senior posts in the Labour government that had fallen from office two
years earlier: Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, David Owen and Bill
Rodgers. A dozen or so other Labour MPs sat alongside them, party
Right-wingers sickened by the fratricidal infighting and the advance
of the Bennite Left.
Is history about to repeat itself? Paddy Ashdown's revelation in this
newspaper that up to a dozen Blairite MPs have discussed leaving
Labour and joining the Liberal Democrats certainly has familiar
echoes. "There are signs that certain constituency parties are
growing really Left-wing," said Lord Ashdown. "Senior Labour figures
have said to me, 'If that happens, I'm off." Lib Dem officials
confirmed there had been "tentative" discussions with disillusioned
Labour MPs and peers.
There is a sceptical voice inside the head of any political
journalist that recognises a bit of pre-election psychological
warfare when he sees it. No doubt there are a lot of very
disenchanted Labour MPs; but they are worried less about the
ideological drift of the party than about saving their own skins when
it is flayed alive at the polls.
As it turned out, the launch of the SDP was not the end of Labour. By
1997 it had transformed itself into a social democratic party led by
a man who would have looked quite comfortable sitting on that
platform a quarter of a century ago. Not so Gordon Brown, however. He
is a tribalist Labour politician who would never have dreamt of
leaving the party. What his party wants is for him to leave them.
They could hardly have made that any clearer over the past few days.
The rats are leaving the sinking ship faster than a holidaymaker
heading for a Mexican airport.
Over the weekend, Labour MPs fought over the knife to plunge into
their leader's heart, or back. We're doomed, they cried. David
Blunkett felt the party had lost its way, Bob Marshall-Andrews was
resigned to the inevitability of defeat and Charles Clarke, another
former home secretary, was appalled that all the "good work done by
Labour is fading away".
However, they are all backbenchers, albeit eminent ones. The
intervention yesterday of a Cabinet minister, Hazel Blears, was of a
different category altogether. She was sufficiently emboldened to
mock Mr Brown's oddball appearance on YouTube. Public ridicule from a
Cabinet colleague is a pretty clear sign that things have come apart.
There was, said Miss Blears, "a lamentable failure to get the
Government's message across". Perhaps she might consider that the
reason Labour is in such a pickle is precisely because its message is
coming across loud and clear: it is a busted flush led by a prime
minister who has clearly lost the trust and respect of his
colleagues. In that case, why should the rest of us give him any?
Furthermore, we learn now of temper tantrums during a series of TV
interviews at the end of last week. Insiders say Mr Brown screams and
shouts at officials and even at lowly employees. In short, he is a
man close to the edge, often out of control and lacking in self-
confidence. He is in power, but without authority. It is a toxic
combination of characteristics in the midst of the worst economic
crisis since the Second World War. It is all very well Miss Blears
being strong-armed into releasing a press statement to reaffirm her
backing for Mr Brown, but it is too late.
It might not be so bad had Mr Brown simply run out of steam after a
triumphant period at the top. Yet when Mr Clarke voiced concern that
all Labour's good work will fade away, what was he talking about
exactly?
=The record debt that our children and theirs will have to pay off?
=The destruction of a pension system that was once the envy of the
world?
=The systematic attack on age-old British liberties?
=The dismantling of an ancient constitutional settlement?
=The bloating of our state bureaucracy?
=The stagnation of social mobility?
=The continuing failure of the state education system?
=The poor condition of many of our hospitals, even after vast sums
have been spent on the NHS.
What has it all been for?
The maunderings of Labour MPs who foresee a 1983-style debacle and
the loss of 100 or more seats will grow louder after June 4, when the
party will be lucky to get a 20 per cent share of the vote in the
Euro-elections and the county council contests in England. This is
not necessarily a harbinger of disaster: Labour achieved just 22 per
cent in the 2004 European parliamentary elections but went on to win
a third term in office at Westminster just a year later.
But these are different times. The Tories are stronger now than they
were then. Tony Blair has gone and taken his campaigning skills and
appeal to Middle England with him. Labour is returning to its class-
warfare roots - putting up top-rate tax and sneering at the outside
jobs of Tory MPs. Suggestions that Mr Brown needs to get a grip,
confront his critics and fill the void in Downing Street are
fanciful. He is the void in Downing Street; and what his party is
saying in so many words is: "Gordon, if you could find a way to leave
with some dignity intact, then please do."
Prime ministers always think something will turn up; and yet even the
most successful go before their time, forced out by circumstances or
illness. Since Labour is going to lose power, why go through the
agony? Last autumn, when there was an attempted putsch against his
leadership, it was understandable that Mr Brown wanted to stay on.
After all, he had only been in Number 10, the office he had long
coveted, for just over a year and, with a worsening economic crisis
gripping the country, he clearly felt his moment had arrived. This
was what he was for. This he could do.
He was encouraged in this delusion by his colleagues and some
commentators who imagined that because he had been Chancellor of the
Exchequer, he would have a unique insight into the nature of the
debacle, not least because he was partly responsible for it. Had he
acknowledged this latter point, he might have persuaded the country
he was the man for the hour. But he didn't, and he isn't. This will
be even more apparent if Labour collapses on June 4.
Those Labour MPs who are allegedly talking of joining the Lib Dems
want to do nothing of the sort, of course. What they want is for Mr
Brown to go and for a Blairite to take his place - both to stop the
party lurching Left-ward and to keep the general election defeat to
manageable proportions. They won't stop until he has done what they
want. He has a miserable summer ahead.
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