Brown should beware fake friends on the right

By James Macintyre

So, one or two of us were indeed very wrong about the London maroyal election, having underestimated the extent to which real, electoral politics can be influenced by a right-of-centre rampant media pack at Westminster. Clearly also, as has been noted here on Open House, the Tory candidate benefited from a high turnout among the very English, political-chat-show-watching, big-car-driving suburbanites on the edge of the city; while much of the more diverse, inner city and - yes - Labour electorate stayed at home. But the voter is always right, and there is no denying that a victory for a stylish, media-friendly but thin-on-policy Tory Etonian, over a gruff, flawed-but-boringly-substantial Leftist deliverer, is genuinely bad news for Gordon Brown. But is it, along with the horrific local election results across the country, proof of the total national meltdown that is now being reported as a done deal for Labour?

Much has already been said about recent history, with some prominent bloggers declaring Brown now much worse than John Major. The same circle of centrist and Tory bloggers - inevitably - warn Brown not to move to "the left", in advice which obscures the reality: that the PM's only true way out in the face of a universally hostile media (including the BBC, who long ago went with the flow) must be to alienate only one side of it - the right - as opposed to both, as he is at present. It is clearer than ever that Brown will never be embraced by that (dominant) side of the press, so again some of us ask: why not fight your way out of this disasterous mess with a bold, progressive agenda, true to your instincts and roots, instead of hopelessly remaining - like a battered wife - imprisoned by those who most enthusiastically attack you and are willing your demise?

But surely anyway, amid the media excitement about the Prime Minister's supposed imminent doom - at its fevered climax since its birth last Autumn with the misguided decision to consider, and then belatedly "call off", an election Brown never truly wanted - a bit of more distant history is needed. Those who are more determined than ever that the Conservatives will win the next general election point out these were the worst local election results since 1968. But those - and Ted Heath's (surprising) subsequent election victory - followed Harold Wilson's devaluation of the pound in '67, just as Major's government crashed after the ERM crisis of 1992.

The fact remains that - apart from the Iraq invasion which Brown surely supported but was not directly responsible for - current Labour has not suffered from a killer blow in the eyes of the electorate. Yet. And therefore, despite everything, when it comes to a general election, it (still) should not be written off.

Comments

[Neil McGowan]

>> real, electoral politics can be influenced by a right-of-centre rampant media pack at Westminster. <<

Are you living in cloud-cuckoo-land or what?????

It wasn't a "media pack at Westminster", it was a gutless useless turd in 10 Downing Street.

10p tax bracket; Iraq War; MoD lies over Friendly-Fire deaths; Menezes shooting; Cadet-Forces in Schools; Culture Minister says abolish the Proms; did-nothing over Burma; toadyed to Chinese commie thugs on Olympics torch; and that's just the first ones I can think of.

And of that list, Schools, Menezes Shooting, and Olympics all have special relevance to London and its Mayor.

Why can't you understand that the electors have seen through your idiot Brown as a berk, a fraud, and a yankee stooge?

500,000 people dead in Iraq, and you think you can spin that?? Grow up, McIntyre.

[Michael]

'The fact remains that - apart from the Iraq invasion which Brown surely supported but was not directly responsible for - current Labour has not suffered from a killer blow in the eyes of the electorate.'

I am reminded of Monty Python's Black Knight.

[Simon Reed]

Everywhere i look on these blogs there is a nutter called Neil McGowan ranting about something, full of hate and fury. What is your problem? If you have so much to say either get therapy or start your own political party. You seem to be on these bloogs morning noon and night so you are either bored or glued to your computer.

[DD]

What a load of drivel - 'the Tory candidate benefited from a high turnout among the very English, political-chat-show-watching, big-car-driving suburbanites on the edge of the city; while much of the more diverse, inner city and - yes - Labour electorate stayed at home.'

If the inner city, apparently Labour, electorate won't come out for Ken, they won't come out for Brown. Never mind what car they drive, perhaps Brown would be better to follow Blair and target people who actually vote.