The first signs of indecisive behaviour came with the 'will he, won't he' go to the country in an election two months ago. It was clear from all the sound bytes that such was his intention until he looked at the polls, received a shock....and bottled it. He should never have allowed election fever to gather in the first place.
Then we have the issue of Abrahmas and the donations. Hain and the despicable Harman pocketing the money while no-one told Brown...and no one queried the legitimacy of what they were doing? I don't believe any of it. Peter Watt resigned as Labour General Secretary after admitting he knew what was happening was illegal. Its squalid and shameful. And Brown must ultimately carry the can.
Then there is Iraq. OK we have reduced troop numbers there but we have done so in such a way that no one is happy and everything clearly has been done for political 'arse saving' and not with any constructive military phasing.
Then the police. How on earth could Brown allow a situation to develop where Scotland's police get a complete 2.5% pay raise, backdated to September as recommended by the committee who arbitrated on pay awards, but the police in England and Wales lose virtually four months of that because of the government's refusal to backdate it. It's petty, it's mean and it's a drop in the ocean of our national expenditure. Why piss the police off when their case is supported not only by their command structure from Chief Constable down but by the pay committee which made the award. Brown is here confusing strength with stubborn short sightedness...and it's a weakness that Blair, at the height of their angry disagreements, has referred to as a flaw in Brown's character.
Also this week we have had the signing of the European Union Treaty which replaced the failed Constitution. It binds European states together in a common political purpose without actually creating a unified European state. There are 27 European Union leaders and gathered in Lisbon this week were 26 of them shown at a ceremony signing the new treaty, photographs of the back slapping occasion circulated in all the newspapers throughout Europe.
Only one leader of the 27 nations was missing. Brown. Because he had a 'prior engagement' with some Commons Committee which could have been rescheduled. Instead he flew to Lisbon and signed the treaty alone with not a camera in sight. Why? Because many people in Britain, and especially on the left of the Labour Party and the right of the Conservative Party (oddly) are passionately against the Treaty. But we have agreed to it. Our Government is a signatory. So why cannot our Prime Minister fly out to Lisbon with pride and publicly commit this country to a new direction in Europe rather than skulking off quietly and doing so in private? He clearly did not wish to be seen in celebratory mood lest his critics savage him when he got home.
Instead he has taken the coward's way out...and it's another bum decision. It ranks with the days of Thatcher when we were reluctant members of the EC and seemed to adopt a permanent petulance about any aspect of European policy. The man is showing an incredible lack of control over his cabinet and I am beginning to get a little worried about his hand on the tiller of British politics.
Then again maybe it's my age. I am so sick and tired of the cynicism in politics, the disingenuous half truth at best behind nearly every decision, the cruel and inhuman way we cheerfully assisted in slaughtering 100, 000 souls not so long after our now deceased Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, talked about a new dawn in ethical foreign policy.
Frankly, having been a passionate and dedicated socialist since my teens, and seen the sorry state into which my Labour Party has descended, I really have reached the point that I don't give a stuff who runs the country. They are all opportunists and medicocre attention seekers. A plague on all your houses, say I !
No comments:
Post a Comment