So the newspapers are full of reports (culled from Andrew Rawnsley's new book, The End of the Party, which I pre-ordered last year) that Gordon Brown has a ferocious temper and takes it out on anyone in the room, from advisers to secretaries.
I can't get too excited. It's not very socialist to treat the staff badly, but then he hasn't been a socialist for a long time. Nor is it a shock to discover that politicians have tempers or get stressed, particularly when we're in the worst recession in decades. It's only a surprise to some because politicians have spent too much time pretending to us that life at the centre of power is like one long wise-cracking episode of The West Wing rather than a combination of plotting, extemporising and panicking. A little more honesty would go a long way.
Tony Blair had his occasional rages ('the fucking Welsh' was one choice quote), but his general eery calm is far more frightening to me than Gordon's human anger and misery. Blair was messianic: he rose above mere democracy, and that's what led him into error. He didn't care enough to be stressed by events, or the voters. Gordon does - and that's endearing.
Poor Gordon is a bit odd - but then, to survive in politics, and in the Labour Party, and to want to govern, requires oddness. If you want some real horror, read Francis Wheen's Strange Days Indeed, about Britain in the 1970s. Extremely senior civil servants stripping off and rolling around on the carpet, royals, generals and newspaper editors seriously discussing a military coup, and a Prime Minister (Harold Wilson) talking about himself as the 'fat spider in the corner'.
2 comments:
This is a classic example of that tired old phrase "be nice to those you meet on the way up". Gordon wasn't just bullying his junior staff, he's been briefing against his colleagues in the Labour party for many years, using lovely people like Damian McBride to do the dirty work. This is one of the reasons no-one dared to stand against him for the leadership. There's no "poor Gordon", he's brought all this on himself. Labour should have had the stones to get rid of this guy a year ago. He will always be a liability.
Bullying in the workplace is unacceptable, it doesn't matter who you are or where you are. It's nothing to do with "caring too much", and all to do with power and control. This guy's only plan seems to be to get power and hold onto it. He glowered and sulked and banged his big clunking fist for a decade and when he finally got the big prize he didn't know what to do with it. How else do you explain his lack of direction and complete inability to deliver policy? The banking crisis is one thing, but the stress from this is no justification for his behaviour. This country has been through worse and other PMs haven't resorted to terrifying their junior members of staff. Gordon likes to pin the blame for his mistakes on anyone other than himself, he likes to intimidate people and throw his weight around. These aren't the characteristics of a leader. He should never have been allowed to take the top job. If Labour lose the election you can thank him alone for it.
What I don't understand: all this has been known about for years, why is it suddenly front page material?
I do tend to agree with almost every word of that - I was being slightly ironic saying 'poor Gordon'. Though I have to say that he wasn't the only one - politics is dysfunctional and attracts dysfunctional people who make each other worse. David Cameron's reputation is of an utterly poisonous individual, for example.
It's a bit much saying we should put the financial crisis aside: we were within two days of every cashpoint in the country closing, of credit cards and cheque books ceasing to function, of national default. That's quite an exception!
I'm not sure if Brown does try to blame others - but the rest I agree with.
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