On-camera Gordon: “It has been very good to meet you – and you are wearing the right colour today. How are your grandchildren? A good family. Good to see you.”
Off-camera Gordon: “You should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that?” “Sue’s I think.” “Everything she said – she’s just a bigoted woman.”
It was 10 years ago today that the man we used to call the Prime Mentalist insulted one of his own voters. Our original report of Niall Paterson’s hot mic scoop is here. Gordon’s misery was later compounded when he, followed by the press pack, went to her house to beg for forgiveness, was seen head-in-hands on the Jeremy Vine Show listening to his words played back to him and later that day sent every Labour Party supporter a grovelling apology. He lost the following general election.
It was one of those incidents, as when Emily Thornberry tweeted her snide picture of the English flag draped outside a house, when traditional Labour voters saw the contempt in which some in the party held them. The collapse of the Red Wall a decade later is a consequence of those attitudes…
N.B. That incredible day’s developments are all here.
Since leaving office, Gordon Brown did a better job of keeping his head down than his predecessor, generally only popping up during major disputes such as the Scottish and EU referendums. It appears he’s now trying to use Coronavirus to confirm his elder statesman status, taking a lead in urging world leaders to both create what the Guardian headlines as an ominous-sounding ‘global government‘ and calls to create a $193 billion fund to tackle the pandemic. Fortunately so far it doesn’t seem like anyone is listening…
His rally for a multi-billion dollar economic rescue package was supported by fellow former PMs Blair and Major. Whilst Major took the time out to back Brown’s initiative, he’s been noticeably silent on another issue. Wishing Boris well in his recovery…
Over the last couple of days we have seen well-wishes from almost every living former Prime Minister:
Theresa May
David Cameron
Gordon Brown
Tony Blair
However, one living PM has not said a word – John Major. It is known Major resents Boris for winning the Brexit referendum, though even Tony Blair managed to put political difference aside to wish the PM well. Not Major’s finest hour…
Although he left it until the very end of his tenure, Corbyn has become the third Labour leader in a row to be caught on camera picking his nose. Is this Labour’s Green New Deal?…
Labour’s found a bogeyman, and for once it’s not the ‘Zionists’…
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…
