Cabinet Highlights

Do you laugh or cry? The only members of the Cabinet to stay in post are Des Browne and Tessa Jowell.

Tessa

Having demonstrated beyond doubt that she is utterly incompetent at this element of her previous role at the Department of Culture, Media & Sport, it would have made sense to keep her a million miles away from the Olympics. Instead, Tessa has been installed as Olympics Minister! Getting the class dunce to focus on their weak areas is one thing. I call doing the same with running the country wilful negligence.

Des

But surely the most astonishing move of the Brown reshuffle was reserved for Des Browne.

From provincial solicitor to hopelessly out-of-touch Defence Minister, he was on the receiving end of the most damning criticism I have ever read from a predecessor for his inept and damaging handling of the Iranian hostages. Not only has he kept his job, but he has had Scotland added to his brief. I don't know who's going to be more offended - our armed forces or the Scots. The thinking behind this is unfathomable to me. I know that Brown has had problems with the SNP, but surely decaring war on them is a step too far.

Update

There's talk of military coups over at the ARRSE military web forum.

Brown Crown Drown

Questions over his own legitimacy and calls for an EU referendum will hit Gordon Brown as soon as he is crowned PM. This story looks likely to add to his woes. US investigators have been weighing up whether to investigate BAE under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for some time. Their decision to go ahead has hit the share price immediately as can be seen by the graphic. That's £1.6bn that's been knocked off the share price since last night.

Here are several reasons why this development can damage the government.


1. It will return the focus to the Attorney General's role in the decision to halt the SFO investigation. On the same theme, it looks like Lord Goldsmith should have a tricky last day at work tomorrow.

2. Has the potential to jog memories about the 2003 Extradition Act.

3. Given that BAE are likely to argue that they were merely a contractor it is plausible that it will be the British government that will be asked to reveal information that they have previously kept hidden.

If there are no skeletons are hidden, there is no reason why Brown shouldn't co-operate with the US anti-corruption investigators? On the other hand wouldn't it be embarassing if British officials were extradited to face trial in the US on corruption charges. More fascinating comment and discussion here.

Blair and Goldsmith's departures leave Brown horribly exposed - drowning?

Conjecture?

One of the great things about blogging is the chance to pontificate. For example, I particularly enjoy this recent prediction by the UK Daily Pundit.

Following corroborated reports from well-placed sources, I am now in a position to reveal that Gordon Brown will never become prime minister. The exact reason why American secret services are determined to scupper his chances may never come to light, but that is beside the point.

Plans are well underway to stage-manage Gordon's exit from the political spotlight and I understand that Gordon is to be well rewarded as part of the deal that has been arranged.

A major consequence of this development is that Labour's deputy leadership election will soon become a leadership contest. Tony Blair is privately supporting Hazel Blears professional campaign and a general election will be called should Hazel get the top job. Blair will be leading the Labour Party in opposition by the end of 2007.

NB - Bookmakers were under strict instructions to pay out early on the Brown premiership betting markets to secure against insider trading and to guard against unfortunate smoke signals. Rest assured that I have made enough money on secondary markets to keep me in blogging for the foreseeable future.

Gordon Brown - Don't Say You Weren't Warned

Blair's Triumph Of Style


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.

Regressive Budget!

I said on my last post that I would like to abolish payroll taxes for those earning the minimum wage. Incredibly, Gordon Brown has just doubled the marginal rate of income tax for some minimum wage workers from 10% to 20%. There will be many low earners who have just had their income tax bill doubled!!! His "cut" has increased income tax liabilities for almost anyone* earning more than £5,000 but less than £17,935.


This table shows the impact of the 10% rise and 2% reduction on people who have reached this break-even point. Nobody earning less than £17,935 is better off as a result of this budget and that will include most part-time workers. Whilst I would normally applaud simplification of the tax system, this move is very regressive. Poor show, Mr Brown.

*exceptions due to different personal allowances do not change the overall picture.

Labour Cock Up No 324325

Date: 25/01/2007

Dear Mr Prague Tory

Booking Ref : QZQ1CG

Increase to Air Passenger Duty(APD)

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, recently announced an increase in Air Passenger Duty (APD) on all flights leaving from UK airports. As a result tax on short-haul flights departing from the UK will rise from £5 to £10 per person (or local currency equivalent). This means for domestic flights passengers will be forced to pay £20 in tax on a return flight.

This tax increase will apply to all passengers traveling on or after 1st February 2007.

As you have booked to travel on or after 1st February 2007 and booked before 9th December 2006, we are contacting you to advise that regrettably we need to collect the additional tax from you. This tax will be debited from the card that was provided at the time of booking which will save you time, as you will not have to make the payment yourself.

Bookings that were made on or after 9th December 2006 already include the increased tax, and there is nothing further to pay.

bmibaby strongly believe that the increase in APD places an unfair burden on air travellers and the extra money collected by the Government should be reinvested into the environmental initiatives that it was created to fund.

Unfortunately this situation is beyond our control and we have no choice but to implement the tax increase. bmibaby therefore apologise for the need to recover the additional tax.

Important note: bmibaby are committed to offering long term low fares and in order to continue doing this we are unfortunately unable to absorb the additional tax that the Government have imposed on all of us.

Please note in order to travel this additional tax must be paid or it will result in you not being allowed to board your flight. Click here to view the terms and conditions. We appreciate your support at this time and acknowledge that this news will not be received favourably by you and has definitely not been supported by bmibaby. It is with great regret that we have to send this email to you.

bmibaby were one of the airlines that campaigned heavily against the rise in tax and are reluctant in having to contact you to ask for the additional tax.

Thank you for your understanding and we hope you enjoy your flight with bmibaby.

Yours sincerely,

Crawford Rix

bmibaby Managing Director
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This hit my junk mail, so I imagine many people will pitch up at the airport expecting to fly, but not having paid the amount in full. Chaos will result. More here

PS I'll stop the YC poll when somebody hits 50 votes.

Tories For Gordon

What I find so amusing about some of the campaigns championed by bloggers from the left is how ineffective they are. For example this. Even Brown's closest supporters must be getting tired of being sycophantic to a man who seems to be perpetually six months away from claiming the prize. In a classic Blairite twist of the knife, the current Prime Minister also told his successor that he would have to be "new new Labour" to win a fourth term.

Enough's enough. As a campaigner with a successful track record, I have decided that I will lend my support to the Brownite efforts so that the long-suffering Scotsman gets into number 10. Partly inspired by the splendid blogger Serf, I am officially joining the "Tories for Gordon" campaign. The campaign will include making sure that Labour get thumped to a pulp in the May local elections so as to increase the pressure on Blair. I hope I can rely on my reader's enthusiastic support?

Renewal

Feeling charitable and safe in the knowledge that my viewpoint will have next to nil resonance in the Labour party I'm going to chuck a few home truths their way. The theme I want to discuss is renewal. I've been bamboozled by this buzzword ever since it became a mantra amongst Labour politicians and supporters. To me renewal means deep and meaningful change (usually) in response to a new environment. Therefore the talk of renewal within Labour has appeared absurd to me for several reasons.

The First Step Is Recognising There Is A Problem

Firstly and probably most importantly, I don't think that there is any real recognition of a need for change within the party. Sure, disillusioned activists have been peeling away for a whole host of reasons, but I haven't seen anything approaching a movement or alternative vision from the remaining party faithful (and I don't include John McDonnell). There are a few isolated voices at LabourHome making surprisingly sensible noises about specific areas of failure (e.g. immigration, policing) but there doesn't seem to be adequate introspection, honesty or even common sense for these calls to be taken seriously and crystallise into something meaningful. And when you think about how the likes of me will crow when Labour take on yet more Tory policies I can understand that it is psychologically painful.

I doubt that anything short of a crisis will shake the acceptance of the status quo - and when you think about how bad the May 2006 elections were for Labour it's hard to imagine what this crisis could look like.

Brown's Limitations

Secondly, the word renewal has been synonymous with an emerging Brown leadership. This association is surely a triumph of hope over experience. Not only is it hard to imagine how a Brown premiership can be sold to the public as a break with the past, but just as crucially, it's hard to imagine that Brown is fit for the purpose of renewal. For a start, the tinkering and deceptiveness of the Blair reign suited Brown to a tee - why are Labour investing hope in this Caledonian changing his tartan? Even if he did make a real effort to change, I'm afraid that he won't pull it off.

The ideal script for this Tory is as follows. Brown will be crowned without any debate or challenging of his ideas. Anything more than cosmetic change will be neither desired nor sought by Brown and no new philosophy will define his term. Sure, he'll have saved up a few headline-grabbers for the tabloid readers, but I fear that they will rightly be seen as gimmicks - he has little public goodwill to rely on.

The renewal concept looks like being one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time back when Labour supporters of all hues could project their dreams onto a Brown premiership. I think this dashed promise will backfire on Brown both within his party and at large. Anyway, comments from across the political spectrum welcome as always. What do you reckon?