Won't Be Fooled Again
No one could be more appropriately named. He fell into the "brown stuff" in a stupendous manner; which is what one might expect from someone who, in the past, claimed super powers over not only our economy but that of the world generally.
The film of him in the radio studio hearing the recording of his comments will have gone round the world. His huge embarrassment and discomfiture was palpable. And so it should have been. He has a huge sense of his own worth and any falling away from that badly affects him. He also has, I suspect, a huge capacity for a sense of guilt. What must he have thought on hearing his comments.
"Bad day at the office Gordie love?"
"Oh, nothing much Sarah my angel, I just hammered the final nail into our electoral coffin."
"You what!"
"It wasn't my fault. It was Sue's for pursuading me to engage with the voter. And that microphone!"
We all know that politicians have to suck up to us at election time: we also know that when their engaging with the public most of them would rather be miles away doing something other than listening to the plebs' grips and whines. It's what we expect and we play along with the pantomime. To have the facade stripped away is not part of the deal. Brown realised that and as a penance he had to prostrate himself, humiliate himself before the media's laughing jackals. For such a man it must have been excruciating.
Even more excruciating for me at least, was to see Lord Mandelson, Harriet Herman and others seek to massage away the incident. Serious faces, concerned expressions acknowledging, on the one hand, the obvious seriousness of Brown's faux pas, but at the same time explaining it away.
But, of course, the facade has been ripped away. When we hear a politican speak in honey'd tones; when a leader glad hands the public, we won't be able to fool ourselves ever again.
Yesterday, I was at our town hall and I saw our retiring Labour MP, and his hopeful successor walking together. They were not talking but their body language said it all. The seat wasn't a marginal, but I suspect they feared Brown's imbroglio had made it so. No letter of apology to Labour's faithful can make amends for that.
The film of him in the radio studio hearing the recording of his comments will have gone round the world. His huge embarrassment and discomfiture was palpable. And so it should have been. He has a huge sense of his own worth and any falling away from that badly affects him. He also has, I suspect, a huge capacity for a sense of guilt. What must he have thought on hearing his comments.
"Bad day at the office Gordie love?"
"Oh, nothing much Sarah my angel, I just hammered the final nail into our electoral coffin."
"You what!"
"It wasn't my fault. It was Sue's for pursuading me to engage with the voter. And that microphone!"
We all know that politicians have to suck up to us at election time: we also know that when their engaging with the public most of them would rather be miles away doing something other than listening to the plebs' grips and whines. It's what we expect and we play along with the pantomime. To have the facade stripped away is not part of the deal. Brown realised that and as a penance he had to prostrate himself, humiliate himself before the media's laughing jackals. For such a man it must have been excruciating.
Even more excruciating for me at least, was to see Lord Mandelson, Harriet Herman and others seek to massage away the incident. Serious faces, concerned expressions acknowledging, on the one hand, the obvious seriousness of Brown's faux pas, but at the same time explaining it away.
But, of course, the facade has been ripped away. When we hear a politican speak in honey'd tones; when a leader glad hands the public, we won't be able to fool ourselves ever again.
Yesterday, I was at our town hall and I saw our retiring Labour MP, and his hopeful successor walking together. They were not talking but their body language said it all. The seat wasn't a marginal, but I suspect they feared Brown's imbroglio had made it so. No letter of apology to Labour's faithful can make amends for that.
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