This image may well come to take symbolic importance at some point in the future. Of course I am deeply disappointed by Blair's tenure because amongst other things he lacked vision and delivered a triumph of spin over truth. But, credit must be given to Blair for his ability to run a professional team. Whilst there are signs that he has increasingly become surrounded by sycophants, he has shown that he has been able to take criticism and change his mind when necessary. And over a 10 year stint, he has made very few PR mistakes. His team's presentational abilities have been a major strong point.
Brown's Emphasis On Substance
With Brown, all the signs point to the opposite. Of course some people will fairly argue that substance is more important than style. This is all very well, but I believe that his style will be his downfall regardless of his substance (which appears to be a mirage to me anyway). In the future, his habits of not delegating, blaming others and going off in a sulk won't just damage him, but also the government and probably the country too.
The Blame Culture
Any dominant manager who fails to delegate and punishes others unfairly creates a culture where communication is not open and where people avoid responsibility and harbour grudges. Not a good team environment. When you "shoot the messenger" minor problems frequently become crises before they become apparent at which point you can guarantee that the key players will be pointing at each other. The foreign prisoners' scandal is a perfect example of this.
Don't Say You Weren't Warned
The autocue debacle is a small piece of unprofessionalism. Who was responsible for setting up the press conference? Were they fully trusted to do the job or did Gordon or one of his inner circle interfere? You can guess the answers and this is indicative of what we can expect from a Brown-led government - and it will lead to poor government. Just don't say you weren't warned.
Update
Incredibly, Brown sycophant-in-chief Neil Lawson thinks that the autocue incident is symbolic of what is best about Brown. He's getting a well deserved roasting in the comments.
2 comments:
Its a shame you can't get channel 4's on demand service out there. (Hint maybe if you choose a UK based proxy server you might be able to trick the system into thinking your in the UK.) Yesterdays dispatches program made some of these points and some further ones about character flaws in Gordon Brown. Quite frankly if what some of the people being interviewed said is true he is not just unfit to be prime minister but could be positively dangerous.
I suspect many in NuLabour have known this - Blair especially - but have been unable to avoid the trap in front of them. In doing so they have again confused loyalty to party with duty to country.
I doubt that any senior Conservative figures would allow such an allegedly flawed person to become PM - even if it meant losing the next election.
Post a Comment