The prime minister has had a dismal summer. His foreign secretary, having just completed his GCSE's, showed exactly what he thought of the PM's leadership when he floated, in coded form, the idea of a Miliband leadership. Brown and Miliband are, of course, meeting for the first time since that little contretemps for their jaunt to Brussels to decide what to do about Gordon....sorry, Georgia. Then Alistair Darling, arguably one of the least interesting and most inoffensive men in politics, chose to admit the truth about the British economy that has been stewarded for so long by one G. Brown. You could hear the glee in George Osborne's voice as he enthusiastically endorsed the Chancellor's sentiments. Now, the Independent is reporting a turf war in Downing Street which has apparently resulted in the downgrading of the man once assumed to be Brown's PR saviour, Stephen Carter. He is, it seems, not aggressive enough towards the Tories. Because that's really the main reason for Labour's poor standing at the moment. Honest.In one year Brown, the man who said he wouldn't be spun, has managed to get through more spin doctors than Blair ever managed, so I suppose he has at least been proved right on that front. He is relentlessly unspinnable. It seems that he is going to revert to his old pals for advice, so expect Ed Balls to be promoted to Darling's Treasury role (a relief for schools who will no longer be subject to his chronic Napoleonic tendencies), and key roles for back-room boys, and loyal Brownies, Wilf Stevenson ands Ian Austin.
1 comment:
I think it will be his biggest mistake if he uses the reshuffle just to promote the loyal Brownites.
The more yes-men he uses to fill up the cabinet, the more he fucks everyone else off. The party is awaiting patiently (albeit, without much expectation) for the big relaunch, should that relaunch involve the purge of his rivals in favour of his stooges, I wouldn't expect to see conference or the party in general take up any call to arms particularly enthusiastically.
A reshuffle, in reality, is insignificant at best - it only clocks on the radar of party activists and politicos who will view it as a statement of intent. Unless he uses this opportunity to appoint the right people who will give Labour activists reason to believe, then, yes, even I will concede, there is no turning back.
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