Loud cries of ‘coward!’ everywhere.
What a humiliating climbdown. This is the result of weeks of strutting and smug swaggering. Let this be a lesson to politicians everywhere. And I would hope that the Conservative Party will learn from the humiliation of Gordon Brown. They should leave the well-deserved gloating to the political press and bloggers, and instead concentrate on working out and improving policies for the good of the country.
Iain has had a few digs at Brown today. He reminds us about the book Gordon Brown wrote on courage, and suggests that the publisher should perhaps demand their advance back. I know Iain’s only being tongue-in-cheek, but here is a suggestion: perhaps a coward is actually the best person to write a book on courage. There is an old African saying that runs thus:
‘We sometimes stand in the comfort of a coward’s compound and from there point out the ruins of a brave man’s house.’
The idea behind the proverb is that perhaps cowardice is a good vantage point from where to admire and recount the tales of braver men. Perhaps that is what Gordon Brown has been doing all along.
October 6th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Oh Bely bely!
Iain is being more than tongue-in-cheek. He’s the mouthpiece of a Tory front, built on the results of a few polls.
Brown would be highly foolish not to have an election this year. The country would reward bravery and guile.
A smaller majority would be better than no majority. Cameron will not be prime minister.
October 6th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Bel, you’re just playing Iain’s daft games. If you go back over his posts he has covered every eventuality. Brown was running scared for a quick election if he went in October… he was running scared from the Tories if he didn’t. It’s the politics of the playground.
OK, if, as you say, this is a humiliating climbdown… point me to one, just one will be enough for all of the reams of articles written since he became Prime Minister, example of when Gordon Brown ever indicated he was going for an Autumn election.
That’s my challenge…. and if you backdown from it you are clearly a coward! (That’s the way Iain spins it, see).
October 6th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Of course, Tyger and Bob, Brown would have been foolish to call an election. And why should he, when he has a very good majority? BUT it was Brown’s lieutenants (with his approval) who talked up the whole thing. Why then shouldn’t Tory bloggers like Iain make political capital out of it? That is exactly what Brown and his men have been doing.
Iain at least is just a private citizen, so the effect of what you call his ‘games’, is limited. Brown and his men, however, have been playing games with the political process.
October 6th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Oh, and I must add: I would have welcomed an autumn election. I have said so before, setting out my reasons for that.
Bob, as for your challenge, you know better than me that Gordon Brown would not have been so stupid as to say publicly that he wanted to go for an Autumn election. However, he had enough opportunity to rule one out if he wished, but chose not to. He let the speculation continue, because it was to his advantage.
The challenge you set for me is a typical ‘politician’s challenge’. You know very well that there is no overt evidence of Brown toying with an Autumn poll, so you phrased your challenge very narrowly to reflect that. Yes, strictly speaking, Brown never stood up in public and said that, but he allowed his close advisers etc to do that work for him.
October 6th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Sorry, Tyger, I misread your comment. You did say Brown would be foolish NOT to call an election.
A small majority is good, yes, but if that had happened, it would have been interpreted as a loss of credibility for Brown. At the very least, he would have been expected to hold on to the number of seats Labour currently has.
A hung Parliament would be even worse. For Brown, of course. On the other hand, it would be marvellous for the country.