Archive for Gordon Brown
Is George Osborne the new Gordon Brown?
As a general rule, I think people are too ready to knock politicians they don’t agree with as stupid. It’s particularly striking when someone whose best result is a distant sixth place in a council by-election seven years ago pontificates about how they are so much politically smarter than the Prime Minster. It also applies [...]
Politicians are not mere pawns in the hands of journalists
Understandably the Leveson Inquiry has concentrated on the misdeeds of journalists and the behaviour of newspaper owners. However, the appearance of a series of figures this week at Leveson could – indeed should – have highlighted how often the power lies with politicians, not the media. We had three figures appear who all, in their [...]
Why Gordon Brown should be voting for Jeremy Hunt tomorrow
Yesterday, at the Leveson Inquiry, Gordon Brown declined to take responsibility for the activities of his special advisers. Tomorrow, Parliament debates whether Jeremy Hunt should take responsibility for the activities of one of his special advisers. So I think we can work out which way Gordon Brown will be voting tomorrow, can’t we? * Mark [...]
Can someone explain yesterday at Leveson to me?
Gordon Brown’s appearance at Leveson yesterday included being questioned about what his staff got up to with undermining other Labour figures, which garnered a response from him that – most charitably – can be described as not widely believed. It also contradicts many other accounts given of his time in office. So – if this [...]
Brown at 10: the authoritative account – which lays into Ed Balls
When it first came out Brown at 10 by Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge was extremely well received for its authoritative detail and the revised paperback edition maintains that standard well. With Seldon being one of the founders of the modern school of contemporary history, it is no surprise that the book follows the thorough, [...]
The failure that is the UK government on YouTube
Mention “YouTube” and “British government” and “failure” to most people interested in online politics or comms and the chances are they will think of Gordon Brown and that YouTube film with the unusual smiles. There is however a quieter failure, going on every day and hitting many Whitehall departments. It is quite simply this: lots of [...]
Explaining Cameron’s Coalition: politics as seen through the eyes of MORI polls
Explaining Cameron’s Coalition is the latest in the series of general election analysis by MORI’s Robert Worcester and Roger Mortimore, this time joined by two other authors. The book is therefore very much the tale of the 2005-2010 Parliament and subsequent general election seen through the eyes of MORI’s opinion polling, with an often pungent [...]
Who is Ed Miliband?
Authors of the best accounts of the New Labour years delved deeply into the rival Brownite and Blairite versions of events before coming to their own conclusions. Those who did not frequently ended up with embarrassingly lopsided and inaccurate accounts. Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre, the authors of Ed: The Milibands and the making of [...]
Government takes action over ‘vulture funds’
When Labour were in power, Liberal Democrats regularly attacked the government for its inaction over so-called vulture funds (that is, in this context, financial funds who buy up debt from poor countries and try to make a profit out of it). For example, then International Development spokesperson Lynne Featherstone said, Gordon Brown has said this [...]
Sharon Bowles named most influential Brit in global financial regulation
Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat Euro-MP for South East England, is the highest placed British person in the GFS Power 50 list of the most influential figures in global financial regulation. The list is voted on by readers of Global Financial Strategy, and Sharon Bowles came out twentieth due to her role as Chair of the Economic and [...]
