The Telegraph has an absolutely astonishing attack on Gordon Brown tomorrow by Charles Clarke. Sorry guys, but I'm breaking your embargo... Here are the direct quotes from Alice Thomson's interview...
Charles Clarke could be forgiven for feeling a sense of satisfaction about Tony Blair's week from hell. It is only four months since he was sacked as Home Secretary - just hours after the Prime Minister had promised him his full support. "I was furious," he tells says
"I'm not working in league with Tony Blair or Number 10. I'm trying to give a reasonable, dispassionate view of what I think the issues are... The picture gave an impression of satisfaction with what he had done. I think that was unfortunate... It's not relevant whether Gordon organised it. Gordon ought - as Chancellor and as putative prime minister - to have condemned it from the outset. Why didn't he? That's a very good question. It damages him immensely.
There's a deep weakness at the core of this, which is that Gordon somehow believes that Tony might try and do him down - when the only person who can do Gordon down is Gordon. Can a leopard change his spots?... There's a massive wish and a prayer going on. For Christ's sake, let him show what his quality is. If he doesn't, that becomes a very difficult situation... Unfortunately, after the last 48 hours, people are saying: - Jesus, why did he have to behave like that? I talked to three or four former Cabinet colleagues yesterday, and anger doesn't express it.
They are people who are delighted to have been in a Blair Government; they don't want to cause a lot of crap; they believe they can do something in a Brown Government. But they were steaming at how he behaved this week. He doesn't need that - so why does he do it?... [Many Cabinet members are] very cross with Gordon. Very, very cross. They know Blair is going, they would like clarity about when that is going to happen, but they don't like the Brown agitation and coup-type stuff. They are very dissatisfied. I don't think there is a great enthusiasm for Brown.
He has to win the support of the party. He - not anyone else - has to win the active support of people like me and his Cabinet colleagues. I don't think that is an impossible task, but he will have to try extremely hard to do it. It is not all about patronage, but it is the way you conduct Government. ... It's a controlling thing - he thinks he has to control everything. He is totally, totally uncollegiate. Can he change? That's the question. Can he delegate? I am told by people in his Treasury team that he has delegated and can delegate. I have not seen it myself. From my own experience of dealing with student finance and ID cards, it was very, very difficult to work with him - very difficult indeed.
It was the control-freak thing. His massive weakness is that he can't work with people. Gordon and the Arctic Monkeys, and Gordon watching England playing in the World Cup with the Mail and all the rest - that is a mistake. You have got to be true to yourself - what people are looking for is some sense of authenticity. Because there is so much television and you are on show 24 hours a day, if you purport to be what you are not, you will soon get discovered...It is Tony's great genius to come across to people in different ways. Gordon has to start having confidence in the kind of man he is. What's so stupid is that he should have confidence: the values he represents as the son of the manse are values that people would respect.
They are not hostile necessarily even to a rather puritanical, rather rigid and severe person. Gordon's not touchy-feely - that doesn't matter. But it does matter if he's pretending to be something he is not. People don't want someone with an image of slipperiness...We just don't know what he thinks on a whole range of issues. What would his foreign policy look like? Will he pull troops out of Iraq? He wants to produce rabbits out of a hat after he becomes leader. I think he's got to produce his rabbits now.
He's got to explain what his vision is...Gordon is a very self-confident, intelligent, cultured politician - why should he have anything to fear from a discussion? Perhaps there is a psychological point... People who purport to lead the country have to be able to deal with these things...He is a perfectionist, but that's a real danger in politics because, at the end of the day, perfection isn't there. He's going to have a far bigger portfolio. He can't micromanage everything any more... He's not a risk-taker, and that matters - you've got to be a risk taker in politics. As a prime minister, there are many things about which you can't be certain.
The easiest thing can be not to act, but what is not understood is that not to act brings costs as well. You can't be cowed and worried. You can't have endless reviews. You have to act. The courage question is a big thing for Gordon...The reason I always supported Tony as a leader rather than Gordon was that only Tony had a vision about where to go. Plus he was ready to use determination and skills to bypass the processes stopping you from getting there... We assume Gordon won't bottle it now, but maybe all this is about making sure there is no contest so he can't bottle it...Gordon had the view that he somehow ought to have been leader and, through his bigness of spirit, he gave it up. That is completely false. Gordon would have been humiliated in the election in 1994. But that has coloured their relationship for years.
It is a complete delusion in Gordon's mind that if he had only run, he could have won...In his mind, he's the heir presumptive. Other people accept it mainly because of his record as Chancellor, but he doesn't have rights in this - he has to earn them. If you're a putative leader, you don't need an endorsement from the existing leader. You should make your own case. The conference will be much harder for Gordon than for Tony because he will have to explain what kind of leader he will be," Mr Clarke says. If he carries on with that grin and a sense of having been involved in an attempt to destabalise and depose Tony, then people will be very cross - even if he tries to deny everything...He could yet be the right person to stand against David Cameron, but whether he will be is up to him.
I think we can win the next election. But Gordon will have to change. He will have to allow the positive sides of his personality to come out... I think it is likely that Gordon will be the next leader, but not inevitable. I reckon now it's about 80 per cent - but it will go up or down depending on how Gordon conducts himself. It's his to lose. It could be Reid, Johnson, Miliband - we just don't know...I think it is unlikely I will go for the leadership, but I still have a career in politics."
Bloody hell!
28 comments:
From my own experience of dealing with student finance and ID cards, it was very, very difficult to work with him - very difficult indeed.
Borne out apparently also in the two Kate Barker reports - people in ODPM/DCLG were apparently a bit miffed that the chancellor was taking on the sponsorship of housing and planning research.
"I think it is unlikely I will go for the leadership, but I still have a career in politics."
Unless the Libdems will get rid of you at next GE.
To summarise Clarke: Brown wants to be the leader but he has never shown leadership.
It's a powerful character assassination. I know people like to rant here on these comments but Clarke's comments are measured, profound and damning, a confirmation of what many of us have thought from someone who deals with him a on regular basis.
If Brown does become PM and Labour leader, it seems he will be a disaster as a Prime Minister.
Yep. As I said earlier today - he's pissing in the soup and enjoying every minute of it.
"Gordon, you've got to prove yourself."
And how long will that take? One, two years?
Meanwhile Toni twists in the wind and NuLab tears itself apart as factions form and reform and new challengers start to flex their muscles.
Vindictive bastard, ain't he?
Never cross an old-style Trot; he'll find a way of putting the boot in sooner or later.
Iain, firstly, you are a very naughty boy for breaking an embargo.
Secondly, you've either got it or you haven't, so how can Charles Clarke suggest that Gordon Brown should let the positive side of his personality come out. What you see, is what you get.
halupczok - scroll down in Iain's site, it's already been stated by a Cabinet member that it won't be a disaster but a F*****g disaster LOL
Well Iain, I hope you can cope with being dropped off The Telegraph's Christmas card list once all the rest of the dailies pick this up for their front pages, which they clearly should.
This is far more damning than the "something of the night" on Howard, albeit without the soundbite element.
Crick's on to it. Tin hat on, Gordon. But you're going down with the ship anyway.
I do think Clarke is bitter, and I have some sympathy with him considering the pile of shite that Blunkett made of the HO, which was ultimately Bliars fault for appointing a non legal professional to the post.
I think he is positioning himself against Brown in the same way that Prescott positioned himself against Bliar in 1994, and maybe the DPM post is what he is after.
In the end, I see this as proof positive that NuLab is being torn apart at the seams, and I'm enjoying every second of it. Come on Blears, give us some more of that guff over how rosy everything is......you stupid bag......she will be first up against the wall whoever wins just for making herself, politicans and NuLab look such utter twats over her various interviews from planet Zog.
His summary of Brown as a leader I would also say now, because i forgot before, was spot on.
What has Brown actually done other than be the straight man? He has been, even being generous in the description, subservient to Bliar in all things. So what if he had rows and arguments and plots against Bliar...they came to nothing because he was too weak to remove Bliar, which he could do at any time. If he was a leader he would take the reins of power now, and would have taken them years ago.
Bliar is weak, Brown is weaker and is not leadership material, apart from him being a Scot and that puts him down to start with as the West Lothian question becomes more acute as the electorate appreciates the concept more and more.
Reid gets my vote as he would make them the mos unpopular party in history and unlikely to be anything other than opposition for the rest of the century, or maybe wife beater Milburn (and don't edit or delete this because of that Iain because you know it's true and his wife has him by the balls by threatening exposure)
Bambi to be followed by Big Ears, eh? We're certainly somewhere in the nursery. That's for sure.
To my mind, Charles Clarke disapproving of him is one of the biggest factors in Gordon's favour.
I try to make a point of not swearing that often, but f*** me! This is THE story of the week, and I bet every nantional is now revising the front pages after Iain's embargo! Well done Iain for hopefully changing the news agenda!
So, a man who has worked alongside Gordon Brown for 9 years in the cabinet says he is insecure, a control freak, can't/won't work with other people, is paranoid, delusional, socially dysfunctional, dishonest about himself, a coward, anal retentive, indecisive......
Bloody hell. With freinds like that.....
Re Alan Milburn.There are always rumours flying around that he has an eye for the ladies, so when I resigned I assumed that something had happened and he was jumping before he was pushed.
but then I heard that the reason he myseriously resigned was because his wife put the screws on him over 'something nasty which for once wasn't sexual'. Is this what is was then? I think we deserve to know if this is true!
Staggering stuff! Clarke is fairly incompetent, but he is principled in my opinion. I think the integrity of this critique is bona fide.
I had a boss like GB once. He had a very negative view of the human condition. He didn't trust you and as a result I couldn't warm to him. One word for a GB Premiership? - demotivatimg
Praguetory said, "but he is principled in my opinion. I think the integrity of this critique is bona fide."
I agree with you there, this is not a character assassination. This is almost unprecedented, an honest and critical assessment of a minister in the cabinet by a colleague!
Any political journalist/anorak who takes their partisan sunglasses off will nod in agreement with Charles Clarke. This is not just about electing a leader of the Labour party but also the next PM.
Gordon Brown has done everything to make this a coranation with or without a contest. Charles Clarke has gone up in my estimation, he is simple warning his own party that they might be writing the biggest political suicide note of this century!
Crikey - GB must have really pissed of Clarke sometime.
However, despite my absolutely massive respect for big ears, I think he has both gone too far here and is missing the point.
Blair's authority has pretty well gone - and if the price of Brown staying quiet for another year is periodic outbursts like we had last week - then what's the point/
People on Blair's side have been briefing against Brown for years, and the minute he has a pop back - Clarke reacts as if Brown has just jerked off in public.
If Clarke thinks that he is helping the Labour party with this kind of outburst then he is deluding himself. More likely he cares more here about pissing off Brown than he does of the good of the party. Which in this context is hypocritical to say the least.
All that guff about him thinking he should be leader - well maybe he does, but so what. He hasn't gone public with the claim and approximately 650 mp's think that if they were less magnanimous they would be pm/party leader. At least with Brown another 100 or so Mps agree with him.
Also the descriptions of what we wouldn't want to see in a Brown premiership also sound exactly what we have had from Blair these last nine years.
In short - Clarke looks a little malicious and - dare we say it - a smaller man for his efforts.
The 30 minutes programme shown just after Channel 4 News last night did it for me. I don't live in the UK anymore. I just had to get out, but I will be relying on my UK state pension, which I have been paying into for about 200 years, very soon and what I learned about Gordon Brown and his intentions in relation to people's pensions frightens the life out of me. He is a shit of the first order and in No 10 would be capable of anything. The man is intrinsically dangerous and should be dumped in preference to Blair.
Hats off to the articulate lady that presented 30 minutes last night. It must have taken a lot of bottle on her part.
And I forgot to say that Charles Clarke really has hit the nail on the head. That's pissed on Brown's chips good and hard.
Where's Prezza?
"Deluded control freak" - Pot. Kettle.
Surely the cause of some "inappropriate and unhelpful" language in the Telegraph newsroom?
Anyway - going on the past nine years' experience, ability to delegate is not necessary for a PM...:)
C'mon Big Andy... you're really Gordon Brown aren't you?
Brown has proved that he is good at getting his supporters to fire his bullets but totally unable to climb out of his self made bunker and take on anyone face to face!
I have met many people who are born leaders in Industry, Commerce, Policing and the armed services...Brown is not fit enough to lick their boots (neither is Cameron, but that is for another day!).
He is a moral coward, a man who, in Clarke's words is a control freak, will never be able to make a decision. Please remember the lives of good men and women are in the bloody hands of Prime Ministers and with Brown at the helm I sense major problems, as he will dither and dither. That has been proved by his failure (cowardice) in not resigning as Chancellor and taking on Blair from the back benches.
Frankly I will be utterly amazed if
1. Blair does step down before the next election.
2. Brown succeeds him!
Bring on the Communist, Doctor (in what?) Reid!
The man who has amazing gifts of third sight..."Our troops in Afghanistan will probably not even fire a shot".
Another Liar..Redliar..to add to Bliar and Browliar.
What would a young Tebbit, Heseltine, Thatcher,Whitelaw have done with so much ammunition????
What does the boy Cameron do?Has that man got any backbone any steel. He should have his steel capped boots on now and be kicking the Labour Party into touch for the next forty years...will he?
I very much doubt it!
It's certainly stunned the beeb.
Humphreys was frankly bemused on Toady this morning, no incisive comment or slanted/unanswerable questions, and the half-wit alongside him kept whittering on about 'Blairite factions striking back' when Fat Charlie doesn't want Blair either.
Their comfortable pigeon-holing system has broken down, there's no defined group to automatically rubbish. There's a risk of it becoming a free-for-all where Toni and the Kilcaldy Achilles become little more than ineffectual players in a lefty Gotterdammerung. And how can you plan the early morning spin-cycle in that siituation?
What a shame (snigger).
They'll have to keep up to date via the blogs (snigger).
Is there any way we can stir the pot?
It is a bit rich, compulsory-ID-cards-Clarke accusing Brown of control freakery. And Clarke -run-our-lives-by-national-database has, I think, completely overdone it - he just sounds insanely jealous and malicious - presumably, though, he has allowed himself to be this "unbuttoned" because Blair gave him permission so to be.
Is this a diversion? Will we wake up tomorrow to find that we have invaded Iran?
Please don't allow a leadership vacuum to be created which will then be filled by John Reid. That would be worse than anything.
- I'm not Charles Clarke -
- If I really were Gordon Brown I would have mentioned the highlights of 'Charles 'not fit' - and certainly not fit - for purpose' Clarke's ministerial career.
I just don't think Clarke has acted at all responsibly for someone purporting to wish only good for the Labour party.
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