The writer is the UK prime minister

According to the article in the FT

the writer is the UK prime minister.

Well he may well have that position at the moment in name but by his inactions over the past few weeks few would actually know it. Whilst the Economy has been going down the pan and MP's are being panned, Gordon has been in the Bunker drawing up more lists of what he has supposedly done and what he is going to do to make him look good. The one list he has forgotten is the one about doing anything to sort out the actual situation we are in.

What does his article actually have to say. Not much really despite being in a paper in which you would expect some reasoned argument. His first riposte is to warn us about how the dreadful Tories would have a problem with Europe. I quote from the article as follows

So we face a choice: to embrace our membership of the EU knowing that committed partnership is the only way to achieve our common aims and protect British jobs, or to accept the Conservative opposition’s approach to British membership, which would threaten many British jobs.

So from this we learn nothing apart from some fear-mongering. Gordon is apparently right and anything the Tories do is wrong. No description or help to tell us what the Tories would do wrong, they are just wrong, a telling argument.

Next we get some puff about how Gordon has saved the world, words such as IMF and G20 to make it all sound impressive, but then we come to the meat, a new list from the Bunker. Actually it is just a call to the European Investment Bank to lend more quickly and to riskier investments, by which I assume he means lend to the UK as we are becoming more and more of a risky investment.

Finally Gordon mentions what is going on in the UK at the moment, well not really he skates over it and says he is just getting on with the job, he will shortly have a new list completed of how he will fix it all.

A quick final paragraph to try and blame it all on the Tories who of course created all the ills of the current Government.

Worth comparing this trivia from Gordon with what the Prime Minister in waiting has been doing over the past weeks. Whilst Gordon has remained curled up in his Bunker, David Cameron has been out speaking to the Country and attacking the problems head-on and with reasoned argument.

More and more we see the Media and the Public turning to Cameron when they want a response to our current problems. They know that Gordon is bunkered and only has one club, the wrong one, to get out of the hole he has dug. Cameron though appears to have the whole set of clubs and the knack of knowing which one to use and when.

FT.com / Comment / Opinion - What Europe must do to build a recovery

Now it's Humiliation for Gordon Brown

Gordon will again be turning into Macavity the Cat this weekend as he retires to his bunker to lick his wounds after a truly appalling week of embarrassments and humiliations.

The latest humiliation is that his grand expenses plan has been dumped without a fight and chaos now reigns over what will happen. Paul Waugh has this in the Evening Standard.

***Harman waves white flag on MPs' exes***

The Commons Leader has just said that she accepts in full the George Young amendment. A real humiliation for the Government whips, it seems. Can Gordon's authority be so low that he can't even get his backbenchers to vote for his resolution?

UPDATE: Total fiasco. Hattie's retreat means she wants to leave the issue of per diem allowance upto Sir Christopher Kelly. But she wants MPs to vote on the remaining issues such as the London allowance etc - pre-empting the Kelly review.

Sir George pointed out the logical inconsistency of her position.

Alan Duncan rightly said Harman's move turns a climbdown into chaos.

I note that there is not a single Cabinet minister on the front bench alongside her.

So Gordon doesn't even turn up to apologise for his plan, just leaves poor old Harperson out to dry. The courage of the ban you would think he was a big feartie.

More later I'm sure

Paul Waugh | Blogs | Evening Standard

200 million pound bribe for DUP 42 day votes

According to the Guardian Gordon Brown has promised the DUP £200m of a bribe to get their votes on the 42 day detention act. Not a bad price if you can afford it, only £22m odd per vote. Never mind it's only our money

However it appears some Labour MP's have been bought for a share of only £42k by the promise of compensation to those unfortunates detained but not charged. Obviously Labour MP's aren't worth much these days.

DUP likely to rescue Brown in 42 day vote | Politics | The Guardian

Brown on Brown - A Ditherer

In the British Forces the expression Blue on Blue is used to describe "Friendly Fire" incidents when your own forces are attacked by allies.

Now we have Nick Brown The Labour deputy Chief Whip saying that Gordon Brown's indecision over an Election last autumn was a "watershed" from which his reputation has not recovered. Not so much "Blue on Blue" as "Brown on Brown".

Apparently during the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary subtlety titled, Gordon Brown: Where Did It All Go Wrong? - Channel 4, tomorrow, 8pm, to mark Brown's first anniversary in No10 on June 27th, we will also see Jack Straw and Jacqui Smith question the Prime Minister's judgment and character. Looks like one not to miss.

PM's oldest ally goes on TV to call him a ditherer | Mail Online

EU Treaty - A Cynical Stitch-up

Have a quick read of this article on the EU Constitution or rather "Treaty".

Feartie and his sidekick the Millipede are still banging on about red lines and how big and courageous they have been standing up to all those johnny foreigners in the EU and how nothing will change.

This is a complete and utter mockery, all that has happened is that the Constitution has been obfusticated and rewritten as a "Treaty" to sound better. It will now be passed on the nod by Gordon tomorrow night and there will be little we can do about it now or in the near future. The Treaty is the old Constitution in all but name.

Our protection will of course will be the infamous "Red Lines" that have either already been effectively bypassed or can be got round like the infamous Maginot Line.

Even the The cross-party European Scrutiny Committee in its report finds that the new Reform Treaty is “substantially equivalent to the Constitutional Treaty”.

It also notes that the Government’s “red lines” are substantially the same as before, and questions whether the various safeguards for the UK will work.

It notes that the Treaty would

“change the legal relationship between the EU and national Governments”

particularly by giving the European Court of Justice new powers over criminal law and policing.

The key points from the report are

1) The new treaty is the same as the rejected EU Constitution

From Para 45:

* “Taken as a whole, the Reform Treaty produces a general framework which is substantially equivalent to the Constitutional Treaty.”

* “Even with the ‘opt-in’ provisions on police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and the Protocol on the Charter, we are not convinced that the same conclusion does not apply to the position of the UK under the Reform Treaty. We look to the Government to make it clear where the changes they have sought and gained at the IGC alter this conclusion in relation to the UK.”

The Government has repeatedly insisted that “the constitutional concept has been abandoned – most recently in the Prime Minister’s press conference today. But the Committee’s Report notes that this is “misleading”.

* Para 50: “we do not consider that references to abandoning a ‘constitutional concept’ or ‘constitutional characteristics’ are helpful and consider that they are even likely to be misleading in so far as they might suggest the Reform Treaty is of lesser significance than the Constitutional Treaty. We believe that the Government must offer evidence if it is to assert that the processes are significantly different.”

2) The red lines won’t work

The report also publishes correspondence with ministers. Initially the Government claimed that it had secured an “opt out” from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In his statement on 25 June Tony Blair said, “It is absolutely clear that we have an opt-out from both the charter and judicial and home affairs.” However, in a letter dated 31 July Europe Minister Jim Murphy admitted:

* “The UK specific protocol which the UK secured is not an ‘opt-out’ from the Charter. Rather, the protocol clarifies the effect that the Charter will have in the UK.”

The Committee warns that the European Court of Justice will simply sidestep attempts to limit the impact of the Charter. The report gives a number of examples:

* Para 58: “To take a possible example, the Working Time Directive contains provisions limiting the weekly hours of work of a worker to 48 hours per week, but with the possibility of agreements to waive those limits. As Article II-91 of the Charter provides that “every worker has the right to limitation of maximum working hours” we have some concern that following a reference to the ECJ from some member state, the Court might find that, in the light of the Charter, the [UK] derogation from the Directive allowing such waivers has to be interpreted more restrictively than before (i.e. before the Charter had legal effect).”

* Para 59: “We would be concerned that, following a reference to the ECJ from some other member states the Court might find that a measure adopted at EU level (such as Council Directive 200/43/EC) had to be given an extended interpretation in light of the wide grounds for prohibiting discrimination under the Charter.”

On criminal justice and policing the report notes that:

* Para 21: “We are concerned that removing the “distinction” between the EU and the EC in relation to matters currently dealt with under the third pillar (with the subsequent increase in the powers of the Commission to bring infraction proceedings and those of the ECJ to interpret and apply Union measures) will change the legal relationship between the EU and national Governments in a way that will increase their powers in relation to UK law. We call on the Government to set out the safeguards which they will expect to gain at the IGC to prevent this happening.”

On future treaty change the report notes that the new “simplified revision procedure”, - which would allow the treaties to be incrementally changed in future with no need for any further treaties - would lead to even less transparency and accountability in the way the EU is run:

* Para 42: “We are concerned that these provisions could allow substantial changes to be made without convening an IGC and so lead to even less transparency in the way the EU is governed, and less accountability of governments to their national parliaments. We ask the Government to outline what safeguards they would put in place to prevent this further erosion of transparency and accountability.”

Contrast this with the Official Foreign and Commonwealth Website and its pages on the EU Reform Treaty. This is supposed to be an unbiased website, but just try and find anything in it that does not toe the Labour Party Line, The only mention of cross-party European Scrutiny Committee's damning report is as follows

Minister for Europe, Jim Murphy, has responded to the report on the EU Intergovernmental Conference by the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee:

"I welcome the publication of this report, just as I have welcomed opportunities to provide evidence to this Committee, to its House of Lords equivalent, and to the Foreign Affairs Committee. I am pleased to note the Committee's recognition that by defending its 'red lines' the UK has secured a specific deal different to that on offer to the other 26 EU member states."

Which must be one of the most cynical of replies to a report that rubbishes everything the government has said.

So there we have it Gordon Brown will go back on his party's word that we would have a referendum on the EU Constitution, as it is now a Treaty, and as such we don't need to be consulted. Perhaps he should listen to some of his EU buddies

The author of the Constitution, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, says: “All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way.”

The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero admits: “We have not let a single substantial point of the Constitutional Treaty go… It is, without a doubt, much more than a treaty. This is a project of foundational character, a treaty for a new Europe.”

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel says simply: “The substance of the Constitution is preserved. That is a fact.”

This is one of the biggest lies that Labour has hoisted on us in recent years and will, I predict, become as infamous as Tony's whoppers about Iraq.

The only obvious solution to this may be to declare Independence in Scotland as soon as possible and hope we are not allowed into/thrown out of the EU, as even getting out of the EU is a tricky business nowadays.

If you want some more forthright and perhaps rather more forcefully reading try Polly the Euro-crazies: A cautionary tale Not for the nervous or easily shocked reader!


We must stand up to this cynical stitch-up | Camilla Cavendish - Times Online

Empty "Vision" of the Big Feartie

According to the Sunday Times the Feartie, after a week to forget, is getting even more flack from Blairites of the New Labour variety as he has failed to set out an inspiring "Vision" for new Labour and and an "empty" conference speech.

Apparently Mr. Blair (remember him?) has disclosed that he is "unhappy" with the direction of the party and concerned about what new Labour stands for.

It also appears that is is not just Blair who is complaining a number of quotes appear from Blair allies complaining of a policy vacuum, being policy free, no vision, no coherent narrative and belittling Blair.

Lord Falconer in particular was scathing about Brown. Having left the cabinet in June he has launched a thinly veiled attack on Brown, warning that an inspiring vision needs to be “spelt out”. He said Brown’s experience and management of crises was not enough to win the next general election.

In addition there are reports that three former Blairite Ministers, Stephen Byers, Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke are "itching" to speak out.

Not all is wonderful in 10 Downing Street at the moment. Never mind Gordon can spend his wakeful times during the night phoning even more Newspaper editors to complain of "bad press". Should keep him busy for awhile.

Tony Blair turns on Gordon Brown as ‘empty’ - Times Online

Big Feartie trails Tories by biggest deficit in 15 Years

The big Feartie will be in more trouble now as his Government goes from bad to worse. he is now presiding over a government with the biggest deficit to the Tories in 15 years. The last time the Tory lead was this high was before Black Wednesday, which says much for his leadership and "Vision".

The Poll from October 10/11 will be a bitter pill for Gordon to swallow after a bad bad week for him.

UPDATE: Must correct this entry. This is not the biggest lead for the Tories(they had a bigger lead as recently as March) but the highest level of support they have had in 15 years. This is probably even better than a big lead as I suspect that Labour still has a few points to fall.

Gordon Brown hit by Tory poll surge - Telegraph

Don't Kick A dying Dog - End the Phoney War

Brown drops his Bottle

Perhaps now is the time to lay off the kicking of the Feartie. He is obviously in his death throes as a politician and we should be merciful to him in his remaining days as Prime Minister.

Whatever else happens it is likely that Gordon will now just be a spent force as Leader of the Labour party and Britain. He has been made to look like a fool in Parliament and to millions of people around the world. I suspect he will quietly say he will be going before the next election and then do a Macavity.

The problem for Gordon is that he will not be respected here or in the rest of the World. I can just see him at the next EU meeting taking out his red pen when they are discussing the EU "treaty". He will be challenged by all and sundry and they will know that he will back down as he does not have courage of his convictions. Even worse will happen when/if we are in conflict with other countries like Iran, who would you like standing up for you, it certainly wouldn't be Brown.

It is unlikely that anyone in the Labour party will have the guts to challenge Brown at the moment but they should realise that the longer he is around the worse it will get for them. Perhaps Maggie should pop round and speak to him again about what happens when you lose the support/respect of your colleagues.

So I wonder how long this phoney war will last, Labour are a dying force with Gordon at the helm, they have to look at the options ahead, which after recent events, are pretty thin and come up with someone who still retains the remnants of respect in Britain. Until they do this the battle to be the next Prime Minister will not start.

Mind you I could always be wrong because it's well known that It taks a lang spune ti sup wi a Fifer.

Marr Bottles the Big Feartie interview

Just watched Andrew Marr and the full interview with the Big Feartie Brown. Atrocious journalism, he never challenged him properly once and let him blather on about change and competency rather than attacking the issue. Brown himself was just as poor, faltering and nervous and full of what HE had done. Truly the politics of I.

Now wonder the Big Feartie chose him to do this interview. Any serious journalist given this chance would have forgotten his own prejudices and been on the attack from the word go.

Anyhow that will be the last we will see of Brown for a while, he will be doing his "Macavity" the cat act again until as late as possible next week. Maybe he even won't turn up for some of those important announcements in Parliament that he was due to make next week. The ones like Iraq and the CSR that were so important next week, Flunkies can do these for him and take the flack. I have a feeling PMQ's on Wednesday might be slightly interesting and embarrassing for him.

Worst Blow in 25 years to a Prime Minister

Over at the Coffeehouse Fraser Nelson is reporting that Adam Boulton has thrown his dummy out the window at Brown as follows.

One of the worst blows to a serving prime minister that I can remember in quarter of a century of covering politics."

He blames the debacle on Brown's advisers. "

If I was giving him any advice tonight it would be ‘sack the lot of them’”.

And he's hiding away while Ming and Cameron are taking questions.

"It's not leadership as most people will understand it."

As Fraser Nelson says

This is just a nuclear bomb.