Do you remember when HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU got their own back on Roy Hattersley when he 'no-showed' by putting a tub of lard on the chair in his place? Well I understand that a number of BBC political programmes are thinking of doing the political equivalent, whatever that might be, to Gordon Brown.
Let's remember that in three weeks time Gordon Brown will become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom without the inconvenience of an election, either within his own Party or in the country. His only TV interview has been a softish joust with Andrew Marr.
Essentially, the British public are going to get a new Prime Minister without him having been scrutinised by anyone about his views, let alone, God forbid, the electorate. I understand he's refusing to appear on NEWSNIGHT with Jeremy Paxman, has turned down countless invites from SKY, ITV's SUNDAY EDITION, the DAILY POLITICS and RADIO 5 LIVE - well, frankly anyone apart from Andrew Marr and Jim Naughtie.
Even the Deputy leadership candidates have done a debate on NEWSNIGHT and will be on QUESTION TIME this week. David Cameron and David Davis did the same. Why won't Gordon subject himself to the same process? We do, after all, live in a democracy.
66 comments:
Does anybody recall him ever appearing on a panel show such as Question Time or Any Questions ? A Prime-Minister in waiting without the balls to go through a tough interview ? Surely not.
Essentially, the British public are going to get a new Prime Minister without him having been scrutinised by anyone
Obviously the Conservative's "Vote Blair, Get Brown" campaign message is but a distant memory now.
Everybody who voted in the general election was aware that a changeover would happen -- why would we need a new general election?
Perhaps this will change when GB is PM? Unless they are wanting to speak top him as Chancellor.
Gordon has every right to choose if and when he speaks to MSM at this stage.
Sorry Scott. Blair said he would serve a full third-term. People were not aware there would be a changeover.
Incorrect Iain, we live in New Britain.
10 glorious years of revolution have proved the obsolescence of democracy and we can now move forward with the people's agenda without the destabilising influences of elections.
Agree with Mr Paul for once. It is very illiberal to demand someone's attendance on telly, or to accuse an independent pressure group of closing down the debate by refusing to appear with Lawson for that matter. Looking a bit snide Iain.
Blair said he intended to serve a full term, and fully intended to. Just like Maggie Thatcher did and did. There was no election then. Neither left at the time of their own choosing. Neither's departure was followed immediately by a General Election. Ridiculous double standards from Tories at every turn in seems.
And his homunculus Ed Balls was at Bildergerg last week.
But all those lovely photos of him looking "relaxed" in chinos as he asesses a house for windows tax or taking the tube as he must do all the time have convinced me that Gordon is a man of the people.
Maybe Gordo is so keen on listening he does not want to speak about anything? Maybe I am being too generous.
There are too many issues about which he has not been able to come up with a convincing "not me, guv" answer, so any interviewer worth their salt would give him an uncomfortable ride.
Cosy little chats with his admirers Marr and Naughtie are OK for Gordo because they let him off the hook. He just cannot stand being scrutinised or asked to account for his actions.
Gordo's personality is seems very complex. There is shyness, arrogance, paranoia, vengefulness, defensiveness and so on; all rolled up in one. Nothing will be predictable. It's a journalistic dream - but don't expect any one-to-ones!
A democracy? Good heavens after 10 years of Mad Tony, you still think that?
Blair said he intended to serve a full term, and fully intended to.
If you believe that, you'll believe anything. I expect you still think there were WMD in Iraq??
I think Gordon Brown knows full well the proportion of truthful things which come out of Mr Blair's mouth: ZERO
I see from the above posts that Chris Paul is close to completing his book project, "Rewriting History, Evidence Not Required"...
Well the 'democratic' process that we currently have does not entail public scrutiny and election of the Prime Minister.
Maybe it's time to review and change the whole system of choosing a Prime Minister, bearing in mind the astounding powers that the post carries.
But what this does show is Brown's continuing comtempt for Parliament and the British public. He's simply interested in the exercise of power. The concepts of answerability or consultation are completely alien to him. If anything his regime will be even more autocratic than his predecessor's, and were already beginning to see that tightening of the grip.
Internment without trial? Destruction of civil rights? Ever increasing tax burden? Gordon's your man.
I am starting to like Brown. No TV interviews - Super ! I prefer politicians to keep out of the media, and for political journalists at the BBC to be redundant. Birt expanded that department beyond reason.
Brown could focus on government rather than showbiz - fantastic ! Let Cameron continue the Blair fixation with media appearances......until people are heartily sick of him
He's sorta been scrutinised for the last ten years, hasn't he ? Enough to know he's awful.
"We do, after all, live in a democracy."
Yer, fcuking right! Actually, I really don't think we do anymore. And there seems to be fcuk all we can do about it.
OK, he is a bit of a macavity, but stick to the facts: he has done a number of sky interviews... and he did The Sunday Edition at the beginning of March
i don't imagine you'll find cameron doing any questions or question time neither...
We do after all live in a Parliamentary democracy, where his ability to secure a majority in the Commons matters.
Do you believe in parliamentary democracy, Iain? You want to be an MP, so presumably you do. And I know you're intelligent enough to understand the constitutional settlement we have, so why do you try this sort of red herring?
As for Brown never having been interviewed, he's been the heir apparent for a decade and he's been interviewed and scrutinised far more than any other current politician - far more than Major when he got the job.
In the past you've said that Brown won't be a break from the past, that he's going to be a tired stale figure. Now you say he's unknown.
Which is it? One or the other, you can't have both!
And on the Major point - Thatcher said in 1986 that she would serve a full term (ie 1987-1991 or 1992) and then fight and win a 4th term and serve a full term in that as well. She said it in an interview with The Times in 1986, check it out.
So all that "Blair said he's serve a full term so we have to have an election" is balls.
Well if this were on Guido's site we'd have all manner of indelicate references to clunking fists, and suggestions that the brand in the picture be changed to Crisco.
But we aren't. So we won't.
This is not a red herring. Every single point you raise is so easily shot down. The main point is that he is supposed to be taking part in a leadership contest. When the Tories and LibDems did that all the candidates appeared on each channel and subjected themselves to the scrutiny of the public and the media. Brown appears to be refusing to do that.
"Gordon Brown will become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom without the inconvenience of an election" - so being elected by 300+ MPs, all of whom have been elected, doesn't count as an election in Dale-land then?
we dont live in a democracy. we're part of the United States of Europe where unelected officils tell us wot to do.
Perhaps all Brown needs to do is rely on the cowardly David Davis defence when asked about grammar schools.... 'David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary declined to comment on an issue outside his brief...'
For the time being, Brown is Chancellor (and wasn't elected by anyone into that job either) and no doubt when he is Prime Minister he will be accountable to the electorate on polling day like every other MP who stands again. Iain, your knowledge of our constitutional norms is sadly lacking for a tv 'expert'.
aceman
Gord is too busy posing for photographs on the tube to even think about debating.
Am I to understand that the Stalin apologists here are unable to see any difference between the manner of Margaret Thatchers leaving when I think my delicate antennae detected a certain reluctance and the outright lie Blair told when he said he was going to stick around for a full term.
The position in any case is quite dissimilar in that Gordon Brown is from the unelectable left , his power is strictly within the Party and was quite clearly not wanted by the electorate hence the promise not to slip him in. . Major took command of a Conservative Hegemony in the Polls and went on, people forget , for seven years .The reason Lady MacBrown is being hidden is because he cannot perform except as a set piece his malevolence operates behind the scenes . The other reason is that it denies anyone the chance to hold him to account for his culpability in everything detestable in the ten years of Labour. They are not getting a :Lady Mac Brown bounce they are getting a “Thanks god Blair is gone “ bounce . Sadly the worst bit of the “Blair project “is here scuttling around in the darkness
Well done Iain for pointing out what a pathetic interview Marr another Scot and another Socialist state employee I could tell he knew he had fluffed it when he defended himself in the Telegraph.I had not noticed that this strange absence was a coordinated attempt to avoid scrutiny but it quite obviously is .
Mac Brown can`t hide forever though, coward though he is , like all bullies.
Some Pretty poor defence on here for Brown. Does anyone know when he last appeared on Question Time? I don't think I've ever seen him on it. Wonder how often he'll run away from PMQ's if things get tough.
Gordon displays more contempt for democracy. His apologists should be ashamed of themselves.
Piper - Iain is not saying it is unconstitutional he is saying Brown is following a deliberate strategy of hiding. Is he a coward an inadequate a would be despot ?
Enlighten us , there can be no good reason, at this juncture, for squatting in the darkness like a evil toad .
Perhaps from now on we will be obliged to glean the government’s intentions from puffs of smoke, or the tealeaf readings of domestic Kremlinologists.
"Obviously the Conservative's "Vote Blair, Get Brown" campaign message is but a distant memory now."
As , I suppose, is Blai's promise to serve a full third term ? Who on earth are these nu lab morons who think it right and proper that someone as powerful ambitious as Brown avoiding public accountability, scrutiny and democracy as fine and dandy? This is scandalous.
Gordon subject himself to scrutiny? The pompous, thin skinned coward can't and won't. He'll rely on his proxy thugs to try and cow all opposition and dissent. What a ghastly man!
Like all bullies, he's secretely frit.
Why should he? That's parliament's job in a parliamentary democracy. Sod Paxo.
I think I know more about the Loch Ness Monster than this spook. The only thing I know for sure is that he likes taxing people for very little return, especially the English.
iain - sorry, there isn't a parallel with the lib dem or tory leadership contests. in those contests, the candidates were running against each other, trying to get membership votes to win. tey appeared in the media as a way of achieving that goal, not because they thought it would be a bit of fun, or because they felt some public duty to do so.
GB is the only candidate in this contest, because he is regarded by the overwhelming majority of the labour party as the outstanding candidates to lead the party and country. he doesn't need to appeal to the party membership through the media, hence he's not on every show every five minutes. the real parallel here is with michael howard, if anyone, who took over from IDS without a ballot. were you affronted by the way that was handled?
my point about brown stands - he has been scrutinised relentlessly over the past 13 years - as heir to blair and chancellor. biographies, TV programmes, profiles, you name it, we've heard about it. i bet you know more about brown's policies and personal history than almost any other politician in the current era, apart perhaps from blair, and quite possibly cameron the media tart (come and watch him do the washing up, fantastic!)
as a politician, GB surely has the right to choose when and how he appears in the media, just as every other senior politician does.
and the point about parliamentary democracy matters. you seem to want GB to perform like a US presidential candidate, just because Blair (and cameron) have fantasies of turning the job of PM into such a role. we are a parliamentary democracy, it's totally different. brown can command a majority in the commons, end of story, no-one else can. that's the way it will stay until the next general election, and the way it has always been in our system, and going on about "not having a vote" just makes you look ignorant, which you are clearly not!
ahhhh Gordon's scared! What an inadequate leader he is! and to think he had the irony to write a book called Courage! What gumption!
'David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary declined to comment on an issue outside his brief...'
Very wise....as heir-apparent he should wait until he gets responsibility for the whole party programme before commenting.....as Heir to Blair's Heir he cannot drive the proverbial bus and claim to be simply a passenger
What a lot of these politicians don't seem to understand is that they're here for our benefit, not the other way round. Brown at the moment seems the worst. Of course he is obliged to appear on TV to inform us (if he can) or at least entertain us ( if he can't). I understand that people who worked for him at the Treasury at first assumed he was shy, then they thought his lack of eye contact was because of his eye injury, then they realised he was just plain rude.
Imagine if Cameron behaved similarly? The press would riot!
Being a bully obviously works, very dispiriting!
he is a coward and an unpopular one at that.......he is happy to let the morons running for the non-job of DPM provide headlines while he sells us down the river over EU behind the scenes.
whats the betting we get 90 days as he cracks the stalinist whip over those spineless scumbag NuLab MPs in his first show of strength post Bliar.
hes not talking to anyone becsause he doesnt care what we think.....
he is a total electoral liability and I for one hope he bahves as normal for two and then gets hammered at the election
BTW nice job on Mellor Iain, very good job.
I'd have a pair of false teeth in his seat
Goodbye democracy... Goodbye accountability too. The British public will stand for anything these days largely because about half of them aren't.
.my point about brown stands - he has been scrutinised relentlessly over the past 13 years - as heir to blair
No he has hidden away as much as possible sticking to set piece performances and avoiding engagement . This was Ok when Blair was selling his back door socialism but it is not ok now . Not only that but the swing voters who voted for Blair did not vote for Gordon Brown and were assurred that they were not voting for Gordon Brown .
Iain is not saying that he cannot hide he is saying that he is hiding from the electorate most of whom ( you will be astonished to learn) , have not read his tales of early Trotskyite activities and later fascination with rocking horses.
England doesn't want Gordon Brown and his Labour MPs sitting for Scottish seats, like him, deciding policy for England in Westminster. Why should it? The Scottish have their own Parliament to make their political choices and have little and spurious claim to involve themselves in ours.
And now it's clear that Scotland doesn't want Labour Scottish MPs sitting for Scottish seats making political choices for Scotland either.
So Scottish Labour MPs, sitting for Scottish seats who are members of the Westminster Parliament, are going to be making political choices for the English electorate who have not voted for them, and for the Scottish electorate who have voted them out of office.
No wonder the Bogey Man won't show his face.
"We do, after all, live in a democracy."
I'm worrying about you Iain. Have Dave and George been handing out the talc again?
Lard would also work for McCavity, like the false teeth suggestion, mabye a biography of Stalin or an autocue? PS
How does he get away with behaving so outrageously? refusing interviews, hiding for weeks on time. It's extraordinary!
Where IS Nessie today btw?
Iain. Your piece all makes perfect sense until you write at the end, 'we are after all living in a democracy'.
Where's your evidence?
suggested mod. 'meant to be living in a democracy'.
democracy flew out of the window a while ago. if gordon keeps sweet with brussels, he can safely ignore the rest of us. hadn't you realised yet?
Anon at 2.56 - Gordon Brown will have been "elected" by 300 odd MPs? How so? I must have missed the OTHER CANDIDATES for them to choose from then. This is a North Korean type election, isn't it - only one candidate!
Gordon Brown will become PM having been elected by nobody except his own constituency in Scotland as their MP. He hasn't faced the electorate of the UK, and he hasn't really faced the Labour Party members either. He won't even face any TV/radio interviewers (Marr and Naughtie don't count, both supine toadies). He likes these photo-ops with little children, mind - no awkward questions and able to pretend to be a real person.
Is this a man with the courage to lead the United Kingdom? Too frit to face Jeremy Paxman.........
Me thinks he media advisers are being a little short sighted.
He clearly needs the practice of doing interviews, and as he's not in charge at the moment, the risk impact of him cocking it up are somewhat smaller than when he is PM. They are also building up resentment with the broadcasters who do hold grudges and build up lots of background on public figures. When he cannot avoid interviews, they are more likely to give him both barrels and or start to release the dirt.
All he's doing is slowly reinforcing the negatives about him
Here's a question I cannot answer: Has he actually launched any NEW policies since he got the nod? Yesterday it was last years Stalinist 90 day detention idea; in the past weeks, old health and education ideas. Have a I missed something
BTW, why is the MSM lead on the new bone cancer drug, all about the companies cash back concept, rather than it's avaiable in Scotland for free already and not for us poor Angles and Welshies?
didnt Sadam have an election like gordo?everyone voted to stay alive/keep their job and gordo does have wmd which he can deploy in 45 mins.sadam had comical ali we have hewit.
beggars belief
Brown's been Chancellor for ten years so he has been pretty thoroughly scrutinised. Anybody who's been paying the slightest attention to politics should have a reasonable idea of his politics and personality.
But if he keeps trying to dodge the press like this they are going to turn on him pretty quickly. It would also be a gift to the opposition parties, who would be able to dominate public debate and taunt Brown as a PM in hiding.
The Bogey Man doesn't need to be interviewd. His friends Paul Dacre and Will Lewis ( Editors of The Mail and The Telegraph) give him all the support he needs.
Boycott these rags until they start supporting the Tories again.
... a number of BBC political programmes are thinking of doing the political equivalent, whatever that might be, to Gordon Brown.
Will they symbolise absent Brown's absence with McCavity the mystery cat on a rocking horse ?
"Gordon has every right to choose if and when he speaks to MSM at this stage."
Of course he does but that doesn't change the fact that this doesn't exactly reflect well on him. Why does he not wish to be interviewed now? Does he fear tough questions?
"I prefer politicians to keep out of the media, and for political journalists at the BBC to be redundant"
Providing politicians put themselves forward to be questioned I see no problem with media appearances. It's when they keep turning up for photo shoots in schools and hospitals that it becomes annoying.
Piper, for God's sake get with the programme will you?
Brown hasn't spoken out on matters outside his brief? You what? What's all this gallivanting around the universe speaking out about bleeding everything except what he's asked about then?
Is this some sort of congenital illness that all you Labour Councillors are suffering from? Have you thought about forming a mutual support group? Rest Homes for the bewildered, perhaps?
It just shows what his advisers think of him - KEEP HIM SHUTUP TILL NIGHTFALL.
My exposure to the broadcast media is pretty much limited to Radio 4 these days, but I seem to detect a marked reluctance on the part of government to answer searching questions on the issues of the day. How often do you now seem to hear that: "Nobody from the Department for [XYZ] was available for interview"?
Remarkable, given the massive expansion in media staffing under New Labour.
Is it just me, or has anybody else registered this disturbing trend?
Brown's obviously a pathological coward, doesn't bode well.
An interesting question is, How many government departments would actually have functioned more efficiently, in the last ten years, if they had been headed up by a tub of lard?
The great advantage a tub of lard has over conventional politicians is, it doesn't increase taxes, it doesn't introduce fatuous legislation and (by and large) it doesn't get into trouble.
I am warming to the idea.
Salisbury actively cultivated the pretense he didn`t do anything and he did as little as possible . Tub of Lard is starting to look like statesmanlike calmality.
Lord Salibury
" If all equitable remedies have failed its votaries take it as proved that one sided remedies that alone are left must succeed...is it not conceivabkle there is no remedy we can apply ..."
Won`t get lard falling into that error
Brown is desperate to avoid any detailed questions until his hand is on the tiller. He needs to keep the media, but will only keep Murdoch and the BBC onside if he pushes the EU Constitution through Parliament.
If he does that, it's as good as saying goodbye to Britain, the £ and any power that Gordon has finally obtained after decades of plying his trade.
This is the puzzle - not so much that he is hiding away as per usual, but which cards will he play - his eurosceptic ones or his europhile ones.
Knowing Gordon as we do, he is unlikely to concede powers to Europe unless his own giant/tiny ego is rewarded en route. Stalin would only sign Russia into the EU as long as Stalin was the King of Europe on his terms.
Maybe something similar to that is planned out by the Great Gord.
If he does not turn up it must be a bucket of steaming horse manure.
"accept no alternatives"
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