Cannon to the right, cannon to the left
The fire being directed at Gordon Brown in the press today is quite astonishing.
Two of the most influential columnists on the right and left are both calling for the Prime Minister to go. Matthew Paris in The Times describes the collapse of Gordon Brown's leadership as a "national emergency" and suggests that
"Britain is heading into a recession with a doomed and flailing leadership at the helm."
He argues that in their own interests as well as that of the country the Cabinet should persuade the Prime Minister to resign. You can read the full article here.
Meanwhile in the Guardian Polly Toynbee, who used to be one of GB's strongest supporters in the press, makes a surprisingly similar argument from a left-wing perspective. She lays into the Prime Minsiter and those who have not attempted to remove him in extraordinarily strong language. Her article "Unseating Gordon Brown may be Labour's last chance" begins by saying that
“... The smell of death around this government is so overpowering it seems to have anaesthetised them all. One bungle follows another and yet those about to die sit silently by.”
The piece goes on
"... A cabinet of minnows and spineless backbenchers include many - perhaps most - who want Brown gone, but lack the nerve to act."
You can read the full article
here.
But perhaps the most astonishing attack of the lot is that the Guardian is also publishing material openly and directly comparing Gordon Brown to Hitler in his last days in the bunker.
The plight of a Labour government must be pretty desperate when a left-wing newspaper such as the Guardian publishes a piece like this article by John Crace.
It includes a link to, and effectively endorses, a YouTube clip taken from the film "Downfall" showing Hitler ranting in the Berlin bunker after his generals tell him the last Nazi army has been destroyed, with the English subtitles changed so that Hitler is identified with Gordon Brown, who is shown ranting, screaming and shouting obscenities about the Labour government being finished after the loss of the Glasgow East by-election.
Now as a Conservative candidate in a marginal seat, if I was most concerned for my own personal interests I would be delighted for this to go on as long as possible. The longer the Labour government continues to act like a paralysed rabbit in the headlights of the oncoming juggernaught which is the next election, with ministers and MPs neither willing to support the Prime Minister nor able to summon the courage to sack him, the more likely a Conservative landslide becomes when that election finally arrives.
But as someone who cares about this country, and lives in a community which faces huge economic challenges, I find it a very bad thing that we face the prospect of another 22 months of indecision and lack of leadership, with a lame duck prime minister at the head of a discredited and incompetent government. For the New Labour government to carry on like this until the last possible moment when an election has to be called, in Summer 2010, is neither in Britain's interest nor even the long-tem interests of the Labour party.
However, I'm not placing any bets against them doing precisely that.
Two of the most influential columnists on the right and left are both calling for the Prime Minister to go. Matthew Paris in The Times describes the collapse of Gordon Brown's leadership as a "national emergency" and suggests that
"Britain is heading into a recession with a doomed and flailing leadership at the helm."
He argues that in their own interests as well as that of the country the Cabinet should persuade the Prime Minister to resign. You can read the full article here.
Meanwhile in the Guardian Polly Toynbee, who used to be one of GB's strongest supporters in the press, makes a surprisingly similar argument from a left-wing perspective. She lays into the Prime Minsiter and those who have not attempted to remove him in extraordinarily strong language. Her article "Unseating Gordon Brown may be Labour's last chance" begins by saying that
“... The smell of death around this government is so overpowering it seems to have anaesthetised them all. One bungle follows another and yet those about to die sit silently by.”
The piece goes on
"... A cabinet of minnows and spineless backbenchers include many - perhaps most - who want Brown gone, but lack the nerve to act."
You can read the full article
here.
But perhaps the most astonishing attack of the lot is that the Guardian is also publishing material openly and directly comparing Gordon Brown to Hitler in his last days in the bunker.
The plight of a Labour government must be pretty desperate when a left-wing newspaper such as the Guardian publishes a piece like this article by John Crace.
It includes a link to, and effectively endorses, a YouTube clip taken from the film "Downfall" showing Hitler ranting in the Berlin bunker after his generals tell him the last Nazi army has been destroyed, with the English subtitles changed so that Hitler is identified with Gordon Brown, who is shown ranting, screaming and shouting obscenities about the Labour government being finished after the loss of the Glasgow East by-election.
Now as a Conservative candidate in a marginal seat, if I was most concerned for my own personal interests I would be delighted for this to go on as long as possible. The longer the Labour government continues to act like a paralysed rabbit in the headlights of the oncoming juggernaught which is the next election, with ministers and MPs neither willing to support the Prime Minister nor able to summon the courage to sack him, the more likely a Conservative landslide becomes when that election finally arrives.
But as someone who cares about this country, and lives in a community which faces huge economic challenges, I find it a very bad thing that we face the prospect of another 22 months of indecision and lack of leadership, with a lame duck prime minister at the head of a discredited and incompetent government. For the New Labour government to carry on like this until the last possible moment when an election has to be called, in Summer 2010, is neither in Britain's interest nor even the long-tem interests of the Labour party.
However, I'm not placing any bets against them doing precisely that.
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