The apology is welcome, but it is not what matters. Gordon Brown's eventual ability to say "sorry" for the email smears of Downing Street aide Damian McBride might begin to close down this distasteful episode, but if this government is going to achieve anything of worth in its remaining 12 months, the prime minister needs to transform his governing philosophy. And a new commitment to candour needs to be at the heart of it.
The last 12 months have witnessed a growing moral sclerosis across Westminster and Whitehall bewildering to behold. A fish rots from the head down and in parliament the precipitous decline in ethics and probity begins with the speaker, Michael Martin. For years, the speaker and Mrs Martin have been plundering the public purse for an almost grotesque array of personal perks and foreign junkets. Only last week, we learnt of new beanos to the Gulf, in the wake of similar trips to Hawaii and the Bahamas.
So it is small wonder that MPs have followed his lead with their own unseemly demands for public reimbursement and shocking system of second-home scams. At a time of accelerating negative equity, collapsing private pensions and mounting unemployment, the public has every reason to be angry with its political masters. Mr Brown is not constitutionally responsible for MPs' finances, but this is a parliament operating under a whipped Labour majority and it is now incumbent upon the prime minister to return some dignity to public life by driving through a proper reform of Westminster pay and expenses. And he could begin by ensuring speaker Martin announces his intention to retire in 2010.
What Mr Brown is responsible for is the conduct of those he employs at Downing Street and here the record is just as depressing. Quite rightly, Mr McBride has gone, but others within the Brownite vanguard seem curiously unrepentant. Education secretary Ed Balls is still fixated by setting up bunker-like "dividing lines" with the Conservatives; blogger Derek Draper thinks he, too, is a "victim" of the McBride affair; while trade union henchman Charlie Whelan bizarrely regards the whole imbroglio as a Tory plot.
More worrying is the growing evidence that Mr Brown was repeatedly warned by civil servants and cabinet ministers of the dangers of employing Mr McBride, but obviously felt he could not carry out his political agenda without the character assassinations of his in-house attack dogs. As any student of Alastair Campbell's regime can testify, politics has always been a contact sport and the Tory party, with former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as communications director, is no stranger to the dark arts. But the office of prime minister holds with it a profound responsibility when it comes to public leadership.
Mr Brown promised us a government inspired by his "moral compass". After the louche air of moneyed access that seemed to haunt Tony Blair's last days in power, Mr Brown played upon his personal inheritance as a son of the manse and history of ministerial rectitude. Since then, we have been treated to any number of inspirational speeches, such as that delivered to the US Congress, on the nobility of public service and the challenge of leadership, complete with echoes of Kennedy.
But behind the scenes, the spinning and leaking was going on unabated even as the country faced one of its gravest economic crises for a generation. And it is wholly unconvincing to suggest that the prime minister had no idea this was how Mr McBride operated, or that since he didn't personally send the emails he should not apologise. Leadership is about setting a tone, matching your rhetoric with reality and taking responsibility for the actions of those you employ and protect.
What is needed from Mr Brown, as the Labour government enters its final year, is a new sense of leadership based on moral and political candour. This means accepting some blame for the policies which have exacerbated the current financial crisis, a more open and pluralist culture within government and a genuine willingness to re-engage with a public heartily sick with the political class on the major policy challenges.
For in numerous debates, Labour still has a good story to tell: the G20 summit and toxic-debt plan for the banks; the siting of the next generation of nuclear reactors (if the mistakes described on pages 20-21 are not repeated); the continuing support for science and technology amid the downturn.
Moreover, there is now a real debate to be had with the Tories on spending cuts, tax rises and public debts. Shadow chancellor George Osborne is right to suggest that 2010 will be a "defining election". These are the values and policies over which the next election needs to be fought, but we will only manage that if the prime minister moves from public apologies to concerted political action.
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Related
Martin Rowson on Gordon Brown's apology over email smear plot
Gordon Brown warned over 'unsuitable' Damian McBride, Blair aides claim
How Derek Draper's plans for an anti-Tory gossip website went awry
McBride's victims: Senior Labour figures hit by the culture of briefings
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