"A ruthless Stalinist with no understanding of mankind... treats Ministerial colleagues with contempt."
Former Cabinet Secretary, Andrew Turnbull
"A control freak"
Charles Clarke
"Psychologically flawed"
Tony or Cherie Blair
"The risk for the Labour Party lies in Gordon Brown's personality and the way he operates."
Sir Stephen Wall
And now, dear Reader, it's down to you to provide my comments on Gordon Brown. After all, you'd like to help provide that nice Mr Cameron with some material for his bidget reply, wouldn't you?
58 comments:
Clearly no-one wants to help Cameron.
Iain, would it be possible to raise your argument above playground level.
Clearly not on this post.
It used to be the nutter who thought he was Napoleon, now it's Brown claiming to be Stalin.
Why have Joseph Stalin and Gordon Brown lost their heads? Just click the nick and find out for yourselves. You and your dull lives, it's never dull in Hull.
Paranoid , bunker dwelling egomaniac who finds debate or opposition of any kind, from any source intolerable.
Harsh rage, Defects of manners, want of Government, Pride, haughtiness, opinion and disdain, the least of which haunting a nobleman, Loseth men's hearts
Henry IV Worcester admonishing Hotspur
He exemplifies what Dr Johnson called, "the insolence of office."
Brown has seen off better opponents than Cameron in the past.
His record is almost bullet proof which means his critics can only attack him on a personal rather than a political or intellectual level.
"He had darkness: the Bolshevik sequestration, the shockingly bitter and unappeasable self-exclusion from the planet, with its fear of comparison , its fear of ridicule, its fear of truth."
Martin Amis
Koba the Dread
To me he always be a clunking Bigfoot - but I couldn't resist the following:
Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw -
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there!
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air -
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!
Mcavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square -
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!
He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair -
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!
And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair -
But it's useless to investigate - Mcavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
`It must have been Macavity!' - but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long-division sums.
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spaer:
At whatever time the deed took place - MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!
Auntie Flo'
It`s never dull in Liverpool either (jailhouselawyer) the place is abuzz with people wanting to vote for the conservatives in the next election and the Lib Dems may have a few surprises at the to come locally !
anonoymnous suggests Brown's record is bullet proof? Oh, so is he paying less tax, has an increased and secure pension, gets better health service, better schooling, and our magnificent armed forces all the perfect equipment they need and they have thousands flocking to join?? Oh, and if they get wounded they are really really well looked after?
I think not.
By the way, I always think "anonymous" doesn't have the wit or education to think up an approriate handle
Like RIchard III he has a touch of the condition that "cannot brook the accent of reproof".
If you are going to quote Turnbull you could at least do it properly.
Interesting to see that the BBC appear to be sharing your news values on this with the picture of Stalin morphing into Gordon Brown - I wonder what you would have said if they had shown an image of Margaret Thatcher morphing into turd after Biffen's comment about Ingham being the sewer not the sewage - seriously it would have been no worse.
If you want to be serious you should ask some questions about Turnbull's motivation and ethics - to make such comments about someone having worked for them for 4 years (from 1998) and then moved onto a bigger job (no doubt with Brown's support) while all the time having such doubts does raise a lot of questions.
Iain,
Reading the comments on your blog over the past couple of nights, you can see quotes from William Shakespeare, Dr Johnson, Martin Amis, T S Eliot and (someone who I've not heard of before called) John Hirst.
Hardly the level of "playground arguments"...
If you are a serious Conservative, you know that Brown is not to be underestimated. On policy, on personality, on world view, you may disagree with him. But those of you who dismiss him are fools.
Cameron is being called weak and superficial, while Brown is being called ruthless and domineering. Neither is great, but which is closer to describing a Prime Minister of substance? Which description is closer to Thatcher?
If you are serious, you know that, and it worries you.
If it doesn't worry you, you are a lightweight, and should consider looking for real substance from the callow youths at the top of your party.
" elements of the dictator are to be found in workplaces and around many dinner tables. We all know one and can identify the symptoms: cruelty, ambition, and an overdeveloped sense of entitlement coupled to deadened sensibilities and lack of empathy. History warns us that events can propel such individuals to power"
Nick Foulkes
a reader 11:09
You are Iain Dale!
So, your posters have learnt to cut and paste. Maybe it's more a case of playground plagiarism.
and people wonder why the general public are disinterested in politics... little wonder with crap like this Iain. Attack the policies...?
Blair and Brown NEVER underestimated their opponents. That is why they have been so successful. It amazes me how much comfort the tory posters on this blog take in a few juvenile insults being thrown Brown's way.
Brown is a serious and substantial politician and in the end the only hope you have is to engage him at a policy level and win. There is precious little sign of that happening at the moment.
"A nervy intellectual who manically read history and literature" , "a fidgety hypochondriac" and
"mercurial neurotic with the tense , seething temperament of a highly strung actor who revels in his own drama" - " sacrificing happiness to political necessity and cannabalistic paranoia"
Simon Sebag's Montefiore describes Gord sorry Stalin.
Continuous economic growth - while the rest of the World hit down-turns, low inflation, high employment, low unemployment, low interest rates etc, etc. Compare that to Osborne who’s only governmental experience was advising the last Conservative Administration during the BSE debacle. Maybe that’s why the Opposition spit so much envy and bile in the Chancellor’s direction. Most Tory Governments would have sold their souls to have a record as good as Brown’s.
What's the quote about Stalin? A strange blend of supersensitive discomfiture andworld-historical arrogance?
Be afraid, be VERY afraid.
anonymous 11.31
Much as I like Iain Dale, I can confirm that I am not him....
...unless it's possible to be the same person in two places about 250 miles apart.
Why do all the pinkoes assume that anyone who makes a kindly comment about Iain's blog is actually Iain posting on his own Comments section?
Perhaps that's how they ramp up their numbers on the rather pathetic Liberal and Labour Blogs (that the relevant statistics show very few people read.)
Iain - I cannot help but feel that the increase in attacks from these pinkoes suggests you are being perceived as a real threat to their control of conventional media (R Murdoch papers, the BBC etc.)
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
I'm filled with self-disgust. I've spent the day looking and listening to broadcasts about Brown's fitness for office.
The BBC have seen fit to parade a bunch of second-rate Labourites, such as Harriet Harman, the perma-tanned Yarpie and the ex-postman to say, "He's an excellent bloke and I'd be delighted (and extremely grateful) to be included in his Cabinet.
Gordon who did you say?
"I think Gordon is brilliant working with people. If they agree with him."
"Allowing Gordon Brown into No 10 would be like letting Mrs Rochester out of the attic. He has no empathy with people and you need that to be Prime Minister. Tony Blair walks and talks like a Prime Minister and Gordon Brown doesn't, that's all there is to it."
Frank Field
(ps Bebopper be careful of over-exposing yourself to such odious Brown nosing)
a reader 12:01
Methinks he doth protest too much.
"Money God"
David Blunkett, allegedly.
"Gordon Brown is Labour’s Richard Nixon. That is not to suggest for an instant that he is a crook — far from it — but he has Nixon’s combination of immense political talent and utter clumsiness. The buttoned-up suit, the mouth slightly agape, the physical awkwardness, the alarming smile which seems to appear from nowhere as if a button marked “smile” has been pressed in his head, the nocturnal brooding on imaginary grievances encouraged by a group of chippy cronies — Brown, like Nixon, suffers from a kind of political Asperger’s syndrome. Intellectually brilliant, he sometimes seems socially barely functional: a little bit . . . odd."
Robert Harris
People think Mr Brown, though wintry, is straight-talking and brave. The truth is that he is indeed wintry, but that he is also shifty and timid. Voters will hate this when they find out.
Matthew Parris
a reader 12:01
How do you know you are 250 miles apart?
You are Iain Dale and it is pathetic that you adopt aliases in order to post comments in support of yourself.
Jesus. I would love to know how you think I could write that post and then send it while presenting a live programme on 18 Doughty Street.
How does that person know they are 250 miles from me? Well, possibly because they know I am working in London most weeknights.
The nutters are out in force tonight. You really do have a problem don;t you?
in response to anonymous 12.18
Iain: when your comment posters are firing lines from Hamlet (Act 3 Scene 2) at other comment posters, I think it's fair to say that you have reach some sort of Blogger "Nirvana."
This is quality stuff and I've even managed to resist swearing on you blog for a whole week!
Iain, do you think posting two comments under yout two separate aliases within a minute of eachother is really going to convince anyone?
anonymous 12.01
Here's a tip:
Iain describes himself as a resident of Tunbridge Wells.
I know where live. It's in th' north.
Microsoft Autoroute does the rest.
It reckons that 250 miles separate us.
However, this could be part of a Bill Gates conspiracy, so trust no one...
Iain - knowing your views on swearing, can I be allowed to call this anonymong a pathetic w**ker?
a reader 12:42
Who would have thought that it would come out at 250 miles - how convenient!
18 Doughty Street on Gordon was great this evening. Let's have more of Brian Micklethwaite, the astute Martine Martin and that interesting lady from Leeds who said we didn't need to know anything about how Maxine Carr feels about her perverted, murdering boyfriend. I also thought Martine Martin was astute, articulate and made succinct points.
The nasal one with the pony tail who over-talked everyone, who had loads of facial expressions and bounced around, I could live without.
The gal from Leeds is, as they say in the American south, a pistol. The Olympic stadium utilised as a prison. Like it! More of her, please.
And Brian Micklethwaite and Martine Martin, both with very interesting thoughts.
verity - are you Janet Daley?
My original comment was "about 250 miles"...
"how convenient" what exactly is your point here?
a reader 12:54
That it corroborates your earlier post.
Look, you've been rumbled - just don't do it again, OK?
Turnbull has done huge damage to Mr Broon by giving insider credence to what the whole country already guessed - that the English hating Scotsman isn't only unfit for purpose, he's a worse dictator with more contempt for due process and the rest of his species than Blair has.
McFall can try to spin the clunking Bigfist into Mary Poppins all he likes... but it's too late because the people have seen through Mr Broon big time, hence Mr Broon's disasterous polls.
Auntie Flo'
anonymous 12.56:
Sorry - this doesn't mean that Iain has been rumbled as a person who post comments on his own blog.
To the best of my knowledge, he doesn't do that and I apologise if my constructive / literary comments have been construed the wrong way.
(So far, so good Iain? I haven't been nasty to anyone yet.)
Actually, I think it's time that I started my own blog so that I can offend lots of people without drawing flak to various bloggers who I like.
Watch this space.
And archtypical nulab tactics of attempting to turn the heat down on your man by projecting it elsewhere - at iain etc - just don't work any longer.
You have a whole new world view to learn, sunshines, The planet's moved on and grown sick of you. You are the past.
Auntie Flo'
a reader
OK - Chill Bill. Given your comments, I would have thought you would welcome being mistaken for the great man!
anonymous 1.13 am:
I am not "the Great Man" - just someone who enjoys visiting his blog and locking swords with a few other contributors of various political persuasions. Life would be so boring if everyone agreed on everything.
If there is one Blog that sums up the view:
"I may not agree with what you say but I would die for your right to say it"
then it is Iain Dale's Blog. Respect "the great man" for this, if nothing else.
Even the fuc***g wan***s are welcome, it seems.
Peace with you.
a reader
It seems you're a sad politico like me - 1:30 in the morning!!
Goodnight
anonymous 1.33 am
Too true!
Sleep well.
BTW - Iain - where else on "the blogosphere" can you get opposing debaters doing a Walton Family sign off like this?
You must be doing something right.
I AM going to put a blog together next week!
Perhaps the significant thing is not that Brown is a psychologically flawed control freak, for we all knew that. Rather it is the willingness of a former cabinet secretary to speak about him with such candour.
It's not only Frank Field whose thoughts are turning to Mrs Rochester and the attic.
He reminds me of the clown pennywise - the clown from Stephen King's IT - the ultimate spin monster. A friendly clown suit on the outside dark and sinister on the inside.
A reference to Pennywise in the budget speech would make my day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennywise
"The most brilliant Chancellor ever seen, who has delivered what none of his predecessors could manage: sustainable economic growth with low inflation".
So at the next GE, we'll have a choice: a Stalinist thug (allegedly) versus a one time pot smoking dilettante (allegedly) Who said there's no choice in British politics?
On the other hand he shares the British publics low opinion of Blair and it would appear many of his ministerial appointments.
What's all the fuss about Chan.4 Dispatches next Monday?
Another for your updates:
"I once sat next to the Chancellor at an England v Scotland match. He didn't speak to me for weeks, just because I leapt out of my seat when England scored, and we went on to win."
Charlie Whelan
Charlie Whelan-another straight guy if ever there was.........!
Iain comparing how you are treating Brown with your recent favourable post on Miliband I think it is clear who you think more formidable.
Do you think Brown will purge those who call him a Stalinist?
Is Gordon Brown a Stalinist? No, but his archenemy Charles Clarke was. However, Clarke's chum Alan Milburn wasn't. He was a Trotskyist.
Is the past tense appropriate in the last three sentences, or should it be the present tense? After all, they are both utterly unrepentant, like so many Blairites and other neocons with such backgrounds. They still don't accept that they were doing anything wrong at the time. Why not?
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