Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Proof that the Brown Era of Spin is Beginning

Last week in TIME Magazine Tom Stoddart did a gushing photo essay that then appeared in various papers including both The Sun and The Mirror yesterday. The spin Brown's people have put on this is that Gordon travelled on a rush hour train with ordinary people. His team then made sure that the girl to his left on the train offered quotes to the few journalists in attendance. Clearly Brown's people are pushing this as him being an 'ordinary Londoner'. Sadly it is complete rubbish.

1. It wasn't rush hour it was late morning on the way to his launch event
2. He surrounded himself with friendly Labour activists and then sat there ignoring them in an attempt to look normal
3. He spent the week before last talking about how he wanted to see an end to spin

Something troubled me about this photo when I saw it. Look at the photo carefully. Sue Nye (Mrs Gavin Davies), his Political Secretary, is sitting to his right on the train, but the girl on his left is not exactly an ordinary member of the public either. She is Rohini Simbodyal and she is a 20 year old student at the London School of Oriental and African Studies. But not only that.

Rohini is backing Hazel Blears for the Deputy Leadership and is the Youth and Student Officer for the Enfield Young Labour Party. She is also chair of the SOAS Labour Party and is the black, minority and ethnic officer for Labour students. Clearly not just an average punter on the tube!

This is how she was quoted in the media.
Brown took the London subway, known as the Tube, to the event, impressing at
least one student, Rohini Simbodyal."We got on the Tube and people were looking
at Gordon Brown," Simbodyal, 20, said. "People were amazed, saying: 'It's
Gordon.' But everyone was very British, they looked and then looked away. A few
people came up and shook his hand and said 'Good luck.' "He was just like a
normal guy," she said.
She also appeared in one of Brown’s video pieces on his campaign site.

OK, so it's not exactly Watergate, but if the era of spin is over, why is Gordon Brown's campaign resorting to these sort of tactics to make him look like a common punter? It's not clever and it backfires.

UPDATE Wed: I have removed the photo from this story after the photographer complained about its use.

62 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh he has a staged photo. So what? Didnt Dave promise an end to punch and judy? Cheap shot iain.

AnyoneButBrown said...

Nailed him. Well done Iain. Brown will be a worse spinner that Blair if that's possible....

Tapestry said...

Goebbels showed the way, Riefenstahl snapped...and Hitler became a demigod.

and we thought Brown was the next Stalin.

Interesting that Brown is so frightened of ordinary people that he has to get his closest supporters to act as 'ordinary people'. Isn't this cultish behaviour?

AnyoneButBrown said...

Anon 6:13. Didn't Brown promise an end to spin? Good shot, judging by your comment....work for Nulab eh?

Chris Paul said...

Petty. Very petty. So the people either side of him may be with him. But so what? And one of them - a student - has given a gushing quote, clearly excited by it all.

Peter Hain would have the carriage chocka with special branch, point them out with a joke like:

"No heckling people, I have my armed special branch officers with me."

He really does do that.

Iain Dale said...

They don't like it up 'em do they, these Brown supporters? "petty", "cheap shot", you always know when you've got them banged to rights when they leave comments like that. The truth hurts, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

It is fairly obviously not rush hour. Look at the number of people in the carriage.

Hughes Views said...

Gosh you Tories really can't stand this transition can you? The contrast between it and the chaotic handover from the broken Thatcher to the hapless Major could hardly be more stark.

It's going to get even worse for you as Gordon Brown rises like a mighty Wurlitzer in a 1930s picture palace. And just wait until he opens up all the stops...

Anonymous said...

Aye, common man picking his nose in public, that's our PM.

scotch said...

Iain, really. "Beginning"? "Proof that the..."?
Next, "Pope was not mates with Martin Luther and Ursines go to the toilet in... ", oh, I can't be bothered.

Anonymous said...

They have a sense of humour these propagandists. Note the magazine held up opposite the PM with the banner "Long live the king". Delusions of grandeur already eh?

Anonymous said...

I was the one who made the "cheap shot" comment. Not a Brown supporter - used to be a Tory. Just getting so fed-up with politics having nothing to do with policy and just making cheap shots.
So Brown has a staged photo taken. I bet the Conservatives would never do they would they.
As far as I can see your comments are a cheap shot iain.

Anonymous said...

The bottom line is that Brown is as much of scumbag as bliar; only not with the talent for lying.

Just think of the staggering sleaze scandals that he wont get away with that Bliar did.

Only 3 years to go and maybe the country can be saved.

Chris paul your comments are utterly laughable, you condone spin and deception all you like but the rest of us do not.

You probably supported torture flights, cash for peerages, the destruction of lebanon, the 100,000's killed in Iraq, the blatant corruption. I hope you are proud of this government.

Simon Harley said...

Londonerr, well spotted. However, it does say "Long live the king?". No wonder Brown's looking so pensive surrounded by his lackeys.

It really is enough to make you sick. At least some people will appreciate this for the trumped up-garbage that this is instead of "Gordon Brown, PM-to-be in his natural habitat".

Anonymous said...

This kack- handed farce reminds me of that ridiculous PPB in May with Tony in the taxi. I do hope they carry on in this vein.

Anonymous said...

It appears his spin doctors forgot to brief Brown on the significance of body language. He is indicating 'I don't want to speak to anyone'.

Anonymous said...

Actually Anon 6:43 PM: I support what you call "torture flights". They keep me safe when I'm trying not to be blown up by terrorists.

Lebanon was destroyed by civil war and the Syrians, and Iraq was just war to free an oppressed nation. And no, I detest this government. Just maybe for not the same reasons as you.

Anonymous said...

There is a good piece in the "Telegraph" today by Craig Brown (no relation to Gordon) about these attempts to make Gordon seem relaxed and normal and how deeply weird they just make him seem.

Anonymous said...

Brown's astro-turfers are ridiculous: their master's imprimatur is barely concealed and his influence is obvious: nasty, boorish and thin-skinned! DOn't like it up 'em. Well done Iain!

Anonymous said...

I spy, with my little eye... four great size eleven feet. Old lonely's body guards are there alright.

This pic is as much of a set up as the air brushed ones where old Gordo has been posed him like a male model by the photographer and Brown's style goru...pity about the face and the nose picking, nasty personna.

Is it a real train or a studio set?

Anonymous said...

Brown's defenders are desperate aren't they. Get him bang to rights and they huff and puff and whine and snivel and snide like no-one's business! what a sad humourless bunch.

Anonymous said...

How strange that the photo isn't at all blurred.

The 'train'(?) is shuddering along and swaying from side to side with the photographer and tripod precariously balanced in the aisle. Yet the pic is as sharp as a nulab spin doctor.

Hmmmmm....

Anonymous said...

But I travel to work every morning on the tube with Gordon.

He's a charming man who often regales us with stories about predestination.

And he gives up his seat to pregnant women, old folk and Brazilians.

Unsworth said...

So, this wasn't a Photoshop exercise? Amazing! Real people? Or are these all Brown's henchpersons? And where is everyone else who normally travel in that carriage?

Just how does he find the time to do all this and bugger up the economy?

Is there no end to his talent and ability?

Anonymous said...

Mr Dale are you telling the truth?

The photographer was on the Radio 4 PM prog yesterday. He definitely told Eddie Mair that it was an early morning commuter tube. That even though most of the carriage of ordinay commuters knew that they were sat with Brown, they pretended not to notice, as the British Do. His photographs are important Historical documents.

I think you should contact Mr Mair ASAP if what you say is correct, I am sure he will be well interested.

Anonymous said...

"I was the one who made the "cheap shot" comment. Not a Brown supporter..."

There you go again Iain with your usual assumption that anyone who dares to show dissent must be a leftie. For the record I too thought "so what?" and I'm a Cameroon.

Anonymous said...

Spin?

Bowled middle stump Iain! (it could never happen to Prezza)

Can anyone tell me how often the prime minister is ever going to travel by tube? Or how often the chancellor has done so in the past ten years without press team and stooges in tow?

Makes the cameron Bike and Limo stunt seem almost reasonable by comparison. Note I only said 'ALMOST'!

Anonymous said...

Iain, I think you will find that Brown and Scottish Labour had quite a bit of form for this type of thing in the run up to the May elections. They got caught out a few times using Labour activists as ordinary voters, I remember them doing it in their PPB. I think this is just another example of what a control freak Brown is, he does not seem very comfortable mixing with ordinary voters. It also seems a very outdated way of campaigning, especially now we see Cameron disappearing off to work/stay with "real" people.

Richard Havers said...

Brilliant! 'nuff said

Anonymous said...

Blow the picture up and you will see that the Lass siting oposite Brown is holding up a slogan that reads " Long Live the King"

This is truly sick making stuff

Anonymous said...

Oh! I must have been dreaming! I thought Dave flew all the way to Norway to have his picture taken on an ice floe dolled up in a parka and posing with fellow commuting huskies.

I thought Dave donned a pair of brand new work gloves, fresh out of the packet, and held a brand new paintbrush up to a newly painted wall, smiling at the camera, to demonstrate his firm commitment to be tough on graffiti, tough on the causes of graffiti.

I must have been dreaming again, because I could have sworn Dave posed behind the counter of an "Asian" corner shop pretending to serve customers.

The Conservatives are quite right to decry this phoney, empty, Brown photo set-up! It cheapens politics ...

William Gruff said...

By some strange coincidence I found this, this very evening, at West Brom Blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08KcScxtNfY

What is about tube trains that is so appealing to the McMafia, and does Gordon have any ideas of his own?

Martin Curtis said...

Spin or a downright lie?

Anonymous said...

Oh dear god what has the world come to. I agree with Verity.

Anonymous said...

IS he picking his nose as well? No matter how hard they try Labour won't succeed in gilding this particular piece of Brown.

Anonymous said...

I thought Gordon had recently made much of his intention to end the era of spin? More hollow and meaningless guff was it? Can he actually say or do anything with any degree of competence or reliability?

Anonymous said...

Brown goes down the tube?

Anonymous said...

they are all as bad as each other... its up to the general media not to be fooled and fall for any of the stunts, and ensure that stunts such as these are exposed for what they really are.

Anonymous said...

Any ident on that woman who asked him for a hug last week?Was she promised a new outfit or just the cleaning costs?

Anonymous said...

Iain, bad enough that your expose is indeed a bit weak, but now you've brought Verity back. You just don't think.

Anonymous said...

Whenever Brown makes one of his lofty and brain numbingly trite pronouncements, the end of spin etc it's almost a certain guarantee that the exact opposite will happen!

Anonymous said...

I thought Brown was going to be different? Maybe I've been reading the Gordian too much these days...

Anonymous said...

What a facile man Brown is,a calamitous, embarrassing and accident prone buffoon. No wonder he's so bitter and resents anyone else having fun!

The Military Wing Of The BBC said...

Mr Gavin Davis for those who may have forgotten was Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs.

A major beneficiary of its float (share options worth c £50m at the time)

A major beneficiary of the 10% Capital Gains Tax rate available on share options introduced by

a. The nasty rich helping Tories
or
b. Good old socialist, hair shirt wearing, Gordon.

Why so many doubters? said...

You may cringe...........but did anyone see Simon Cowell on This Is Your Life..........and some prat said that he took Simon Cowell to have dinner with the nose picker, yet the Nose Picker says that he shuns the celebrity culture.............Really?

Newmania said...

But Verity this is pretending not to be set up it is pretending that this is what Brown is. David Cameron does the sort of amateur photo op that all local Parties do
" , Look I `m picking up litter" , Its entirely harmless. Nice chap actually .
.I expect that the student in question will find herself "removed from the histories" having not served the Party with any distinction.

Listen Everyone because I have an insight I want to share with you all. Think of Shakespearean villains there are many to choose from but it occurs to me that Brown is not so much Lady MacBeth ( as seemed the case) as Iago. People always ask , how can a brilliant and moral man like Othello be brought down by such low character well; part if the answer is this . Othello is not a subtle wily man and when he hears someone who appears gruff ugly coarse and low he assumes he must be the opposite of the smooth Venetian courtiers he resents .He assumes Iago can be trusted. It is in fact a double bluff . Iago is not a “Rough diamond “ he is the very soul of malevolence a Dark secret hating murderous incarnate bile who bides his time and strikes by proxy and stealth .We make the same mistake about the foul breathed cadavre because he lacks Blairs winning smile we assume he is “Honest “ .We are fools then. At the moment he manages to have the enthusiastic backing of the Trade Unions and the Daily Mail( have you noticed) . To be fervently pro American and free trade but also an evangelist for fair trade in Africa. Brown is the advocate of capitalism whose greatest hero is Red Clydesider Jimmy Maxton. He preaches the work ethic but has presided over the greatest expansion of the welfare state in modern history He says there is no substitute for Policy but was the puppeteer pulling the strings while Blair danced with his imprimatur domestically elevating image over substance . He claims to be a British patriot whe in fact he is simply shoring up his own undemocratic double vote in Scotland. He likes to appear determined but scuttles away from the light like a thief when his moment has come . He promised not to raise taxes but has raise them to 45% of GDP.

How does he get away with it ? Just because Blair had charm and he does not . He is Iago playing the rough diamond when really calculating evil is his real nature. This picture shows the deceit in his black heart.

He is not what he seems ……beware

Anonymous said...

The kind of source analysis I try to get my students to do in history class.

Anonymous said...

Ican go with Newmania's point. Except I think that Brown is thunderously, malevolently petty.

Anonymous said...

A trivial incident in itself, but one of dozens which build up over the years, in our subconscious, to create a climate of silent contempt for politicians and their ways.

Like Cameron's bicycle/limosine stunt, I'm afraid.

Anonymous said...

It's the Pick-a-dilly line! LOL xInfinity!

If you enlarge the photo, it is legible on the left above the passengers, and on the right above the broon, the LHR loop is visable.

There is a station sign thru the window on the left behind the "King?" reader. Can someone do some CSI and enhance the image to see where it is?

Newmania yr right: load of differnce between a photo op (kissing baby) and a "staged but presented as real" deception.

Thank you Iain for this!

Anonymous said...

He doesn't look very happy among the common clay, does he? Arms crossed in front of his chest, dining on a fingernail. All very defensive body language. As to that wretched blasted front page story it wasn't journalism, it was Sunday editors doing the modern equivalent of asking 'Prime Minister, is there anything you wish to say to the nation?' Shame on them.

Anonymous said...

This is so obviously bogus, and it DOES matter. I travel on the Tube a lot. Rare indeed is the carriage with less than 50% black passengers. In fact many's the time I have found myself to be the only white face in a carriage.

All but one person in this pic are white. Unless it's a complete fluke, this presents an interesting question: Why should Gordon want to expunge the ethnic population from his publicity shots?

Anonymous said...

Thank you for removing the image which you used completely without my permission. For the record this was not a staged photo-op, in fact it was only at the last minute that I got on the tube with him. The girl to his left was at the event he attended earlier and told him she was going to the campaign launch if she could get there in time. Brown invited her to travel with him and chatted with her for most of the journey. Other than Sue Nye everyone else in the carriage were commuters.

Anonymous said...

My apologies for making this assumption, Tom. Obviously it was pure coincidence that he found himself in a carriage full of white skinheads.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, someone else has published the photo http://lukeakehurstsblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/well-done-iain-dale.html

Roger Thornhill said...

reminds me of the Dan Quayle moment.. He sneaks out one day unannounced to mix with real people. Pitches up at a diner, sits at the counter, pleased as punch at his "escape". Dan turns to the bloke beside him and says "Hi! I'm Dan Quayle". Man next to him replies "Hi, I'm your security guard".

At least Dan was an unwitting chump.

Anonymous said...

Iain, if the journalist wants to describe her as "a student" that's up to them.

For your story not to be just yet another smear you're going to have to provide some evidence that Gordon's campaign were spinning that she was - and, having been there at the time, I can tell you they weren't.

Indeed I spoke to Rohini on the day - and this is what happened. She was at the Enfield Southgate pre-launch gathering with Party members (she's a party member there...) but she, unlike most of the people there, had also planned to attend the launch even in central London.

She, being the excitable type, mentioned this to Gordon when he was working the room and he, thinking it might be a nice touch, suggested to her that she travel down with him. Rohini was, to say the least, very excited by this as any young Labour hack would be - but this was not at all pre-arranged with spin doctors or any such thing.

I therefore very much doubt that there was any attempt to portray her as "an ordinary student" anywhere in the media. Indeed I overheard her talking to a PA journalist at some length and she was quite open about being a Labour member.

In addition, an attempt to portray this to journalists as a "rush hour" journey to his campaign launch would have been the worlds worst attempt at spin ever - since most of the country's political journalists were at the event and knew full well it started just before lunch.

Anonymous said...

Talking of gordon spinning, I seem to be seeing a lot more leftie astroturfing since the Blair->Brown transition started. Anyone else noticed this?

Tapestry said...

Gordon Brown is so uptight, he manages to make real life look staged. Certainly fooled me.

Unsworth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unsworth said...

KPJ: 'this is what happened'.

Oh really? Or is that what you say you have been told happened? Not quite the same thing, eh?

What was that about 'what could you possibly say etc. etc....' from a certain G Brown?

Where's NuLabour's credibility these days?

Anonymous said...

It's what Rohini told me personally happened on the day, shortly after the got off the tube and got to the launch event with Gordon. It's what I heard her tell 3 different journalists there including a PA journo.