The former Prime Mentalist has just told an audience at the IPPR “More people voted for Ed Balls on Strictly than for our next Prime Minister.” Tens of thousands of Tories will have voted for Boris to become leader. The country made the Tories the biggest party and in Britain’s system of democracy that gives them the opportunity to form a government. Precisely zero people voted for Gordon Brown to become PM because his thuggish reign of terror scared off any opponent in his party from standing against him. Unbelievable hypocrisy…
Pressure is mounting on Theresa May to release the full legal advice given to her over the Irish backstop. Senior Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash sums up the issue succinctly, drawing a parallel with his own battle as Shadow Attorney General in the 2000s with Tony Blair over the legal advice he had received on the Iraq War:
“The Attorney General’s advice on critical constitutional issues is for Parliament and the country, not just for the Government. As shadow Attorney General I successfully pressured Blair and the Attorney General to produce legal advice on the Iraq war and it should happen again.”
In 2007, Theresa May herself wrote to Gordon Brown with a dossier of 100 accusations of breaches of the ministerial code under Blair’s government, including this particular entry:
“It emerged in April 2005 that Mr Blair did not tell his Cabinet about crucial legal advice on Iraq. The Prime Minister was forced to disclose the thirteen-page memorandum he received from Lord Goldsmith on the legality of the war. It was never shown to Cabinet or MPs, as Mr Blair should have under the Ministerial Code.”
Constitutionally, the Brexit deal is going to be of greater lasting significance than the Iraq War. If May refuses to release the full legal advice she will be doing exactly what she castigated Blair and Brown for…
A very relaxed-looking Gordon Brown gives Corybn a gentle kicking, agreeing that he is “a phase”. Brown continued: “we’re all phases… politicians have a short shelf life in terms of life at the top”. He would know…
Asked by Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby if she ever kicks her shoes off and orders a takeaway, the Maybot malfunctioned and was unable to answer. Could have been worse, at least she didn’t do a Gordon. “I like English food, I like British food…”
Back in 2007 the Shadow Leader of the Commons, one Theresa May, wrote a cutting assessment of Gordon Brown’s first six months as PM for ConHome. Ten years on, the ironies are quite something…
Meaningless soundbites: “Brown is the master of the meaningless soundbite, an initiative a day… Well, if as Chancellor he was the master of the meaningless soundbite, as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has surpassed himself.” Not so strong and stable eh…
Control freak: “It’s a controlling thing – [Brown] thinks he has to control everything… Charles Clarke might have said this in public, but I’m sure David Miliband and Lord West are saying just the same thing in private. Can you think of any other foreign secretary who has had his speech torn up and re-written by Downing Street? Can you think of a minister who has had such an obvious dressing down as when Lord West said that the case for extending 28 days had not yet been made?” Ministers serving under May’s own control freak regime will find this particularly hilarious…
Psychological flaws: “You know Gordon, he feels so vulnerable and insecure. He has these psychological flaws… When Gordon Brown let the speculation about an early general election get out of hand, only to back down when he saw the opinion polls, there must have been much mirth amongst the Blairites. The arrogance, the dithering, followed by the pathetic climbdown was just the sort of behaviour they had predicted.” Because Theresa would never make an arrogant decision about an election based on opinion polls…
Macavity quality: “The Chancellor has a Macavity quality. He is not there when there is dirty work to be done… Macavity the Cat has been at it again this week. Knowing that the public hate the renamed European Constitution, and knowing that he has broken his manifesto promise to hold a referendum, Gordon Brown really didn’t want to be photographed signing the treaty with the other European heads of government. So, he agreed to go to the Liaison Committee for his evidence session, knowing it clashed, and deliberately double-booking himself.” Not like May to go missing at important moments…
Team player? “The idea that he’s a team player is utterly ludicrous’ (former Permanent Secretary)… in his regular press conference, the Prime Minister studiously refused to back Harriet Harman – deliberately using her as a human shield.” Another one that will have Cabinet ministers laughing. Penny for Philip Hammond’s thoughts on the press conference reference…
Absolute disaster: “It would be an absolute f*cking disaster if Gordon Brown was Prime Minister’ (government minister, reported to be John Hutton)… Well I probably wouldn’t use the same language as John Hutton, but with the first run on a British bank for 140 years, the HMRC lost data fiasco, and his own Party facing a criminal investigation, it’s pretty hard to disagree with the sentiment.” Ahem.
Bring back Blair: “Looking at the opinion polls, I don’t think another Labour leader is what the general public want – but it seems clear that they can’t stand that Gordon Brown.” Now it is Tory MPs who are privately joking “bring back Dave”…
Funny how things work out…
Labour are complaining today that Northern Ireland should not get more funding than other parts of the UK and that May has given them a deal “to help her cling to power”.
“Where is the money for the Tory-DUP deal coming from? And, will all parts of the UK receive the much needed additional funding that Northern Ireland will get as part of the deal? This Tory-DUP deal is clearly not in the national interest but in May’s party’s interest to help her cling to power.”
Almost gotta admire the hypocrisy…
In 2010 Gordon Brown wrote to the DUP seeking a deal to help him cling to power. He guaranteed money for Northern Ireland and implied Northern Ireland would need more cash than the rest of the UK:
“I am writing to confirm my continued commitment to the block grant for Northern Ireland for the current financial year and to confirm the financial settlement for the budget of the newly established Department of Justice… As you know, I believe it is an imperative to stabilise the economic recovery in Northern Ireland…. I recognise that the legacy of the past will make this more difficult to achieve in the coming months than we may expect in other parts of the United Kingdom. This is a challenge we must all meet. The achievements made by you and the political leaders of Northern Ireland have been an example to us all. I remain firmly committed to doing all I can to support this momentous progress and you can count on my continued support.”
In 2015 Labour under Miliband did the same. Read Gordon’s letter to the DUP, there are lots of similarities with May’s words today…
