No Blairite revolt
Blair - the backseat driver. That was the prospect raised by the headlines in some of the Sundays (, and ). It is wrong, as the former prime minister's office were swift to point out, but that should not comfort Team Brown too much. The Blairites are not plotting at this, the first hint of trouble for Gordon but they are shaking their heads, muttering "I told you so" and musing about how they can shape "the vision thing" which all now agree Labour needs to find.
"Get behind Gordon" was, I'm told, the sentiment of the former dear leader’s texts to his closest allies (having just got a mobile phone he's sending them thick and fast). Tony, one source said, needs this project to work.
That has not, of course, stopped some of his cheerleaders pointing out that it was who saw the inheritance tax problem coming, wrote a pamphlet warning of the threat it posed to Labour and was then roundly condemned by a certain Alistair Darling for doing so. Byers will, I predict, have more ideas to contribute soon.
It's also been noted that a self-inflicted wound rooted in mis-reading the polls and the media followed the first occasion in years when Alastair Campbell and Philip Gould were not involved.
So, there is no Blairite revolt but there is a feeling around that Gordon Brown needs to be persuaded to listen to voices way beyond his own intimate circle.
I'm 
Comments
I may be missing something here, Nick - but - apropos 'The Vision Thing' - haven't NuLabour had ten years to turn The Vision Thing into reality..? Gordon Brown may want to project himself as warm, cuddly and hard-working-family-friendly, but frankly its an image for which he is not exactly naturally cut out...
Blairite? Brownite? It's funny that they adopt these labels seeing as they don't actually mean anything!
This is just another media storm in a media teacup. Some politicians, journalists, and voters are winding themselves up like clockwork toys. It's all a distraction and waste of time, so I'm tuning it out. As for the Prime Minister widening his circle, we'll hear cries of "Inclusiveness! Inclusiveness! Inclusiveness!" When that's settled, they will turn and cry "Controlling! Controlling! Controlling!" I hope the Prime Minister ignores these extremes and moves with tolerance, patience, and calm.
The Conservatives have problems with greed, the Liberals with Fantasy Island policies, and the Labour Party has issues with gesture politics and squabbling. None of this is good for parliament, the media, or public. If the Prime Minister continues to let these wild ravings and tearing of clothes pass through as if he is made of smoke, his mind will be more clear and mood more settled. As the thrashing egos make life difficult for themselves, his success will become so much easier.
People fill their minds with certainty and cravings. Their base habits and reactivity become more and more ingrained as they howl at the moon. If the Prime Minister remains firm but gentle of purpose, their posturings and enthusiasms should naturally die down. From elation, through depression, British politics will arrive at acceptance. Things are as they are. They can be no other way. When people are calm, then will be the time to develop vision. Until then, there is no need to hurry.
Car crash politics at its most entertaining.
"New Labour needs to find a vision . . ." - surely Flash already has one that he's waiting to gift to an expectant public. No wait a minute. They've already seen quite enough of his vision put into effect - and they're very worried.
"So, there is no Blairite revolt but there is a feeling around that Gordon Brown need to be persuaded to listen to voices way beyond his own intimate circle".
Yes, he needs to listen to the public, you know the people who voted for his old boss believing that they would get a referendum on Europe, taxpayers in general etc, etc.
But for how long can they be persuaded to keep their heads down?
Just for the record Nick, how many of the Ministers about whom Tony Blair issued statements saying that they had his "full support" subsequently had to resign or be sacked?
Surely it's more a case of him not having an experienced and competent inner circle, rather than him needing to listen to a wider group of people? His young, inexperienced and overexuberant ministers have done a huge amount of damage over the election fiasco.
Nick,
Judging by the way Gordon Brown is acting as Prime Minister he must already be "listenting to voices" If he listens to the electorate maybe he'll resign!
I agree, but I would add that the great clunking fist probably doesn't listen to those within his 'inner circle' either - since he already knows everything there is to know, what need has he for advice?
I'm no Labour fan, but believe that Brown is mainly responding to the agenda of the media, and that Cameron is emboldened by the media. A leader of character would respond only to his conscience, and deal with an opposition merely on their merits.
Mistakes.
1. Not having a policy reform on Inheritance Tax at the conference.
2. Waiting till after tha Tory conference to announce.
3. Pettily visiting Iraq, and announcing troop withdrawals during the Tory conference.
In my view, Brown should have stated he won't consider an election until the 3 year anniversary of this government. His polisies aren't so bad, but he badly needs savvy tacticians to help him play the game - and to listen to them.
In my view, the best reform of IT, would be to remove the main residence (held for at least 10 years) from the calculation.
Blairite is surely a term only now useful in a historical context...?
It feels odd...like the last few months didn't exist. We were forever talking about Stalin...sorry...Brown as being overly dependent on the few, and distrustful of the rest. Then we had this marvelous shattering of our negative expectations as he came to power and changed the tone overnight. Brown was riding high while Cameron was being stabbed in the back by his 'colleagues' so fast it was a blur of knives. Now, in the space of a few days, plastic memory has exerted its forces, and its as though the last few months were a dream; we've woken to find Bobby in the shower, and Brown locked in his bunker.
Did it feel like the good old days, writing that post Nick?
Anyone who'd read Tom Bowers unauthorised biography of Gordon Brown will not be too surprised by this. Especially his tendency to see the world though a very tight-knit group of political cronies, who egged him on re: a possible election.
In my opinion, Brown is slowly realising some horrible truths.
The worst being that now he has finally secured what he wanted, the self-doubt has crept in i.e. can I handle the job in its entirety?
Other factors are starting to conspire against him, the economy is starting to turn sour - and the BoE, whose competence had really kept Labour in power, is starting post-Northern Rock, to look a bit shaky itself.
His home country, Scotland, is a total nightmare from the NL/Brown perspective and is looking more down the self-determination route.
I suspect Brown will now just try to hang in there over the next couple of years.
God knows why.
Scotland does'nt want him.
The Welsh don't want him.
Even the English are waking up to smell the proverbial coffee.
Frankly Nick I don't think Brown is capable of listening to anyone who doesn't agree 100% with his vision - whatever that is..
Nick, you asked "Should Gordon Brown be listening to those beyond his own circle?" Perhaps he could start with the British public, or would be just a vision too far?
Nick,
I love the idea that Blair told everyone in the Labour Party to get behind Gordon,thats exactly what happened to Julius Caesar and look what happened to him.
Vision thing...Brown has had 13 years to prepare his vision for PM. 10 of those years he was Chancellor. What has he been doing?
Devising every more intricate mechanisms to extract money from our wallets to spend in a manner that he, not we deem good.
The clock is ticking to electoral oblivion for New Labour....
I can't understand why GB doesn't become a conviction politician; one who listens to the people; one who tries to put the trust back into politics. What is wrong with holding an EU referendum then campaigning for a yes vote and losing? That won't diminish his authority one bit. He will have kept his party manifesto commitment (trust); he will have shown conviction (campaigning for a yes vote) and he will have listened to the people (by following our wishes after the vote). That's what we pay him to do. He doesn't have to be right every time. Obviously the media will have a field day trying to convince eveybody it's the end of the world but it won't be. All he has to say is; I kept the election promise, I expressed my view, now I bow to the people.
Is he big enough a man to do that? He would earn far more respect by being open and honest and occasionally wrong than falling into that politician trap of always thinking they know better and thus treating the public with contempt.
Now lets see, vision can be:
a) the act or power of sensing with the eyes; sight b) the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be c) an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency d) something seen or otherwise perceived during such an experience e) a vivid, imaginative conception or anticipation f) something seen; an object of sight g) a scene, person, etc., of extraordinary beauty h) seeing the world through rose tinted glasses.
Confused? So is Gordon Brown.
If DC had said: "Vision, should've gone to Specsavers" on Wednesday, I would have given him a standing ovation.
Nevertheless, I'm still confident Brown does have a vision for the UK - a very good one I believe, as long as he is not hypnotised by the graveyard of reformist politicians with policy but not PR - the media.
He has mucked up over the last few weeks, and part of the blame must be shifted on this so called "inner circle", but it won't be that damagng in two years time when the proper election comes round.
I hate attacks on the media and politicans all the time, but over the last fortnight they have deserved it. The media is part of modern poltics, and hence politicans must play to its tune as well as to the public. Cinton once said: "You can have good policy without good politics, but you can't have good government without both."
If Brown lives by this - without letting PR dominate his agenda like DC has done, then he will be alright.
It may be correct to say that "there is no Blairite revolt" but there is no getting away from the fact that Brown is in very real trouble. The real question is "is he fit for purpose"?
He may have been a competent Chancellor, a very good Minister albeit not a very loyal one because he was to often fashioning bullets for others to fire at Tony Blair, but is he going to make a good Prime Minister. On the evidence to date almost certainly not.Tony Blair made some serious mistakes and got himself into some real scrapes but he always came bouncing back and was often at his best when his back was to the wall. He wasn't called Teflon Tony for nothing.Brown does not have these personal qualities.
He impresses as being cold and calculating, is surrounded by young "yes people" rather than mature experienced polititions and is unlikely to take advise from anyone. He should but in my opinion he will not.
There is a way back but I doubt he has the courage to take the necessary action.
Brown's vision is the grass is always greener on the other side. That's why he spent so much time plotting to be PM while Chancellor. That's why his answer to the adulation the Tory's received for their policy proposals was to take them for himself. That's why he wasn't satisfied with the current parliamentary majority when the polls showed he could get a larger one. He's never going to be settled or comfortable as PM as his vision is always going to be distracted elsewhere.
I don't think it's right to make excuses for Brown vis-a-vie his "inner circle" giving him bad advice. To be fair to him he has accepted full responsibility for recent events.
In my view a good leader has vision,
respect and sound judgement. A great leader has charisma, fortitude, instinct and humility.
I loathed Blair from the bottom of my heart but at least I could see the great leadership qualities he had, made more apparent by the lack of the above in his successor.
This is the beginning of the end for Gordon Brown. +11 to -7?
He knows it.
The personality type of someone like Gordon Brown is that he favours small but deep relationships, tends to be formal and detached, and humorous and friendly in private. He's a deep thinker who's widely read, quite cautious, and prone to the occasional wild spontaneity. He's a rare personality type but that's all you can make of it. Different people are different.
The Prime Minister is a keynote type of person. He comes to firm points of view but I doubt he stops listening. He may take a very tough line but if the merits of the case are clear he's quite likely to change his mind. A laser like drive and sucking in huge quantities of information comes with a price. People only have so much bandwidth to go around but experience helps.
If only you were as tolerant and patient as the Iron Buddha!
Nick there doesnt have to be a Blairite 'revolt'.All they have to do is stand back and allow Gordon enough rope to hang himself.If he has many more weeks like last week the party will be begging for David Milliband to take over before the next election!
Brown set out on his enterprise as a jolly way of wrecking the Tory Party conference.
He had already made a disastrous delivery to the Labour conference, in which he talked of his vision of "British Jobs for British Workers" - something he has spent the last 10 years wrecking. He might as well have spoken of his vision for fair pensions for the private sector, which he has also wrecked, or for simplicity in the tax system.
Because he is an arrogant bully, he thought he could send the Tories into turmoil by threatening an election when he thought they were at their low point, and by hugging babies in Iraq at the same time.
Neither the Tories not the voters are as stupid as Brown thinks, and they challenged him. He ran away like a coward.
Brown stinks, and deserves our contempt.