The lights are on but no one's home...

Despite earlier reports that he might be going somewhere, Gordon Brown has managed to instill a sense of fear and confusion into the minds of the masses by revealing that he is planning something called a 'two-year fight back campaign'. The long and short of it will be that he remains in office until the latest possible date - summer 2010 - before calling the next general election.

His plans to go down in the history books as a mere hanger-on have been formed as part of the realisation that, should he call an election any time soon, he'll be kicked out of Downing Street quicker than John Prescott can eat a pork pie and, perhaps more disturbingly, because it has always been his dream to be Prime Minister and he wishes to maintain the delusions of being able to do the job successfully. Regardless of what anybody else thinks or what it may mean for his party.

It's probably not news that there are many dissidents within the Labour party who feel that Brown is unelectable regardless of how long he stays in office. Alan Johnson, the health secretary, has reportedly dubbed Labour's onerous time under Brown's rule as the "three elections and a tax change", whereas other Labour Party members such as Jack Straw have been overheard saying equally critical things of Brown's leadership skills. Unfortunately, Brown doesn't seem to be taking the hint.

If things seem to continue in the same way that they have been, Westmonster has to admit that we can't quite imagine Brown lasting another two years, regardless of how prepared to fight for his job he claims to be. Sadly, as this conjecture is based on little more than a bleak glimmer of hope in the prevalence of reasoning, we'll probably turn out to be wrong.

The sad truth about Brown seems to be that he stands before us as a man who has finally achieved something that he has always wanted - but is neither qualified or passionate enough to do his job properly. Mainly because he got where he is out of dumb fucking luck. Sure he can make the speeches, shake people's hands, or stand behind podiums next to presidents and other world leaders. Yet it's all done in the superficial and cursory way of a pretender.

Brown's clinging on serves to demonstrate lack of unity within the Labour Party, which has ostensibly become nothing more than a few cliques of separatists, all vying for their own versions of power. They all share a common name but their objectives are different. Unfortunately, none of them have the balls to try and oust the other, for the fear their displays of dissidence will lower public perceptions of their party as a whole and get them further from the cherry on top of the cake.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about Brown's desire to stay is the comparisons that it can draw to despotism. Although he's not violent, there is a chance that he's insane. His intransigence in refusing to deal with the obvious problems that he is causing for his party, his refusing to wake up to reality, seem to offer proof that although Brown is physically standing their before us, he essentially isn't there.

Which is pretty fucking scary if you think about it...

Written by Oli Anderson on 26 May 2008 12:18 PM. Permalink