Labour Pains

As I write this entry, the trials and tribulations that have beset Gordon Brown's premiership, are mounting by the truckload.

I can't help thinking that Mr Brown's biggest problem by far, is his lack of charismatic authority. The hints were there right from the start... in an early Prime Minister's Questions session facing David Cameron... where he rather embarrassingly came to a grinding halt and sat down before properly answering the question put to him.

True, it was only a small thing... but you could easily argue that it was a microcosm of what has since transpired. I'm not against Mr Brown at all... I've always believed he's had a good agenda that was initially obscured by his predecessor's egomania and obsession with spin. Of course I've never really been a fan of Blair,but one thing you can argue... is that he had charisma in spades (but then it is not always a good quality). Following a man like that is always going to be difficult, it is even more the case if charisma does not come naturally.

I don't have a major problem with Mr Brown's big policy calls... nobody can doubt he's made some brave calls that other world leaders have responded to. My biggest problem is his inability to make the big leadership calls. He had a chance to validate his premiership right from the get go... he had the opportunity to call a somewhat risky general election which hindsight tells us he probably would have won. His response to the subsequent by-elections and local elections that Labour struggled in, was "We are listening and we will learn from this". This was churned out several times in succession and to my ears, it became a bit of a cliched mantra.

Then of course most recently, he finds ministers within his ranks who have played or abused the expenses system and chooses a long term strategy to deal with it. That is not how the real world deals with such matters. If something like that came up anywhere else, you would expect it to be dealt with immediacy. What was needed was not an independent inquiry riddled with red tape (that must follow only as a secondary measure), but a swift yet accurate self diagnosis of who was at fault followed by a case by case instant dismissal and by election.

People may still harbour anger, resentment and feelings of betrayal... but if they can at least see that you are taking genuinely hard steps to put your house in order, you are are likely to win their ears back.

If the stories are true, it would appear that Brown was not happy with Alastair Darling's performance as chancellor... and yet in the recent reshuffle, he backed off doing anything about it because Darling was rumoured to be digging his heels in and refusing to do any other job.

The tougher choice would have been to have called Darling out on that... put him somewhere you feel is better and see how he reacts. If he walks, he walks... but don't let one man's desire to retain a high profile job, rule how you feel the team should be structured.

I feel the only way for Gordon Brown to survive the oncoming storm, is to adapt his personality for the times ahead. He needs to be more bullish.

Should Labour go through with a plot to oust him, heaven help them... because I don't really see any pretenders to the throne. I don't get a strong sense of leadership from Alan Johnson or anyone else for that matter... and if someone should take the mantle from Brown, they are going to have justify the fact that they are the second successive Prime Minister to have not been directly elected.

If Brown goes... or is forced to take some kind of internal electoral action to secure his position, I honestly think a general election will have to be called. He needs to act before his own ministers adopt their own course of action that can only end in mutually assured destruction of Labour at the polls - Blairite or Brownite won't matter... their fate will be the same.

I'll be honest... I can't see any way that Labour is not going to be annihilated at the next general election- I believe that too much water has passed under the bridge. Now is not the time for fingers in the dame... now is the time for something spectacular.

An interesting week ahead of us I would say.

Poll Axe

So we won't be queuing out in the November rain to cast our votes after all. Gordon Brown has dismissed the idea of an Autumn election and probably also the prospect of a 2008 one too.

It's the right decision.

Think about it for a second. We've had a "New Labour" government for over 10 years... and a change of Prime Minister in only the last few months. If you are in favour of Gordon Brown's leadership... naturally you'll want to extend his reign for as long as possible. If you are against it, I don't think you should be so keen to risk giving him a four year mandate to make things worse.

There are some people who would vote against New Labour purely because they think 10 years under one party's rule is enough. However, change for the sake of change is one of the most erroneous choices a person can make. I have often spoken out against the policies of Tony Blair, so you might be mistaken for believing I'd like to see New Labour out as as soon as possible. In fact, my opinion is that we should give Gordon Brown an opportunity to see if he can keep and live up to his word - he has limited time... not a full term. He will have to hit the ground running to prove his salt... and by the time he is obliged to call an election, we - the voting public will be in a much better position to make an informed decision (for those of us who still believe in doing such things... rather than moronically voting on autopilot for any one party).

However,although we have arrived at what I believe is the right outcome... we have done so in a manner which I believe has damaged Gordon Brown's credibility.

I saw David Cameron's strong arm tactic of calling for an election, as primarily a bluff. It is a gamble that has paid off. Brown has seen a blip in the opinion polls and has been the first to blink. It has weakened his image as a strong leader... but in the long term view, he has given himself more time to prove himself - be that as a success or as a failure.

One of my strongest reasons for not wanting an election now, is that on the face of things we still have two centre right economical and authoritarian parties contending for Government. I want to see if Brown is going to temper Blair's reforms and bring in more laws favouring welfare and less that favour Orwellianism. There is precious little hope of that as it is... but an election would severely damage what hope does exist.

Lets wait and see what 2008 brings.

You can read more analysis and reaction on Nick Robinson's blog over at the BBC.

Politics (Yawn)

Righty Ho. We'll be up for an election soon, so I thought I'd better state my position.

First of all, look at the chart at the bottom of this entry. I got this from http://www.politicalcompass.org/ where I also obtained my political profile.

Basically, not one of the parties is close to where I am politically. With regards to authoritarian (vertical) issues I am closer to the Lib Dem's, but socio-economically (horizontal) I'm way off to the left, probably nearer the greens. Please note the huge political vacuum that I occupy, because of this I cannot in good conscience (at present) vote for any mainstream candidate in my area.

This is why I am opposed to party politics (don't get me wrong, I'm also opposed to totalitarian regimes). The ideal as far as I am concerned, is for an open senatorial system. If your MP votes purely on their own personal views, and to their best information, the views of their constituents, you are going to have a wider scope of views reflected in national policy... that would be a true democracy. I have devised a model for how such a government could be established. Basically, the key positions would be shortlisted & voted for by the whole house (on the basis of a whole house consensus on who was best qualified for the job), and the succesful ministers would appoint their own subsidiaries as they saw fit. The house would vote on bills, and the majority vote would be carried.

I think this is a good way forward, this would help eliminate voter apathy (I think many people don't turn up to vote, because they feel politicians are largely all the same, and that whatever they vote, faecal matter will be elected... only the shade and consistency of the faecal matter can be chosen between... I don't just think it's about "can't be bothered" people).

Unfortunately, as popular as this idea is among people I've spoken to, I've been told getting politicians to vote in these changes would be like "getting turkey's to vote for Christmas". It takes away power from the parties and restores it to the people, which is why it will never get brought in until something dumb happens like a civil war (and no unlike others I don't think we're immune to such a scenario, just because we already decided to bludgeon one another four centuries ago. Yugoslavia was a very peaceful place just before it's deconstruction).

Please whatever you do though, take the time to click on the political compass link above, take the test and find out who is closest to you before voting! Heck you might even surprise yourself... I certainly did (I thought I was centrist)!

That's it now, you won't hear me saying anything on the subject anymore as it's making me feel sleepy already!

Does this make me a political subversive????