Gordon Brown's Listless Cabinet

Martin Ivens, The Times June 7, 2009

Gordon Brown wanted to amaze us all with his cabinet reshuffle. Be careful what you wish for, prime minister. Scarcely has there been a more cack-handed operation in British political history. The scale of failure even dwarfs the ineptitude of the year-long attempted coup against him. But the chaos, the resignations and the threat of civil war have resolved nothing, at least this weekend. The fate of this administration is now hanging by a thread but Brown still leads it. “We are locked into a prolonged dance of death,” ruefully admits one of the prime minister’s chief critics.

This government is neither dead nor alive: like Count Dracula it is undead. It exists for no other purpose than Brown’s survival. It would be comical if only the condition of the country were not so serious. The recession may have done its worst but the state’s debt crisis is just beginning. Only a strong government can take the unpopular measures required to curb public spending.

You might be forgiven for forgetting we are fighting a war, too. Are they cowering in the caves of Af-Pak at the elevation of anonymous Bob Ainsworth to defence secretary, the sixth bearer of that title under Labour? Never mind - we have Alan Sugar as the new enterprise champion to sweeten the pill. Had someone proposed such a crass way to relaunch a business on his show, Sugar would have barked: “Prime Minister, you’re fired.”

This is “the creation of a new government”, claims Lord Mandelson, tongue boring a hole through his cheek. If the appointment of Glenys Kinnock to the Europe ministry is “fresh”, then expect the appointment to office any day soon of Ida, the 65m-year-old “missing link”.

It is hard to be “a good butcher” of ministers. Even powerful prime ministers like Margaret Thatcher botched reshuffles. But Brown’s first successful attempt last year - bringing back, as it did, Lord Mandelson - had led us to expect better.

When this newspaper revealed last Sunday that Brown firmly intended to put Ed Balls into No 11 Downing Street, the prime minister really ought to have acted fast to attain his objective or given up the idea on the spot - and not reprised that nonelection he hummed and hawed over two years ago. But Brown had neglected to inform his old friend and ally, the chancellor, Alistair Darling, that he was for the chop.

That said, it is worth following No 10’s logic. The elevation of Balls would indeed have been a coup de théâtre. Darling had been weakened by the expenses scandal, his moral authority as guardian of the nation’s finances undermined by the flipping of his residences. He is also a partial obstacle to the prime minister’s strategy to go for broke and fight the election on the hoary theme of Tory cuts versus Labour “investment”, as Brown calls public spending.

The chancellor had fended the prime minister off when he requested a second fiscal stimulus in April. This earned Darling the plaudits of the Financial Times-reading classes, who like a chancellor to stand up to a profligate No 10, but won him Brown’s enmity.

The chancellor’s civilised demeanour can easily be taken for weakness. By contrast, the schools secretary translated to No 11 would be a ferocious fighter – looking for dividing lines with the opposition by making expensive commitments that he would dare the Tories to reject and so appear to be heartless skinflints. No quarter would be offered and - knowing what David Cameron thinks of the man he calls in Wodehou-sian lingo “blinky Balls” - none taken.

Darling believed he was serving in his last job in government but wasn’t prepared to offer his throat to the knife yet. He summoned up the courage to say, back me or sack me. Jeremy Thorpe said of an earlier prime minister, Harold Macmillan, after a disastrous cabinet cull, the so-called Night of the Long Knives: “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life.” When James Purnell, the welfare secretary, quit on Thursday night, Brown gave up the fight and gave up Ed.

It was just too risky. Many Labour ministers and MPs are fond of Darling - he was the only Brownite Tony Blair could ever stomach - and dislike Balls, not only for his own sake but as a lightning conductor for his patron. He is being tarred for the venomous briefing that drove Hazel Blears to premature resignation and alienated women ministers. Friends of Balls furiously insist he has never been responsible for black propaganda operations. Nor had he discussed the No 11 job with Brown for “at least nine months”. That will cheer up Alistair.

Neither Brown nor Balls had reckoned on Purnell’s principled resignation. The now former welfare secretary has always been an unrepentant moderniser and advocate of radical public service reform. A staunch pro-European and liberal interventionist in foreign policy, he believes the radical centre is where a successful Labour future lies. It is no accident that he was raised in the south of England - where Brown’s inability to connect with middle-class voters is likely to be fatal. He voiced the doubts that many Labour MPs share: the prime minister has no vision.

Unlike the scandal-tainted Blears - who disastrously jumped ship on the eve of the local and European elections in what came across as a betrayal of the Labour party she loves - Purnell resigned at the appropriate moment, after the polls had closed. His resignation statement was a model of timing, clarity and hostile intent.

However, he had not coordinated his move with his allies. John Hutton, his fellow Blairite, had predicted that “Brown would be a f****** awful prime minister” from the start. Yet when Hutton resigned from his job as defence secretary on Friday, he failed to blame the PM for his departure. He would have turned on Brown, say friends, only if a challenger had made himself available.

Miliband might once have been that man, but he was content to retain his great office of state. Just as he had ducked his leadership challenge a year before, so he sat tight on Friday, wearing a rictus grin of feigned loyalty. Alan Johnson, the amiable former postman favoured by many Labour MPs as Brown’s successor, failed to deliver yet again. The cockney dauphin gave no signal that he would welcome a rebellion and accepted the home secretary’s job instead. Once that decision was made, Brown’s life support machine was back on.

Labour backbenchers will have another chance to vent their anger tomorrow after the European election results show the scale of the government’s unpopularity, but many are betting we are back to where we were last year when dissident MPs called on the prime minister to go but failed to find a challenger.

The real winner amid this chaos is Mandelson, now first secretary, or de facto deputy prime minister. He plays the part of balancer in this government, urging Blairite allies not to quit government but advising the prime minister not to force the issue of Balls’s appointment - though he had originally consented to it. As the good ship Titanic sinks below the waves, Peter has grabbed the baton and is happily conducting the orchestra.

It was said of John Major that he was in office but not in power. But consider Brown’s plight. He cannot dominate his cabinet for fear of more resignations. He cannot replace his chancellor although their relations are strained to breaking point. He cannot sack his disloyal foreign secretary. He cannot win an election, although he can hang on.

Friday’s prime ministerial press conference reached a new low. While promising to be candid, Brown denied outright ever having tried to shift his chancellor. Shoulders sagged; friends as well as critics were palpably dismayed. There is not a shred of dignity in this slow political death.

Even if he survives the next 2 or 3 days he will be so weakened that the next 'event' that a stronger leader could brush-off will take down this husk of a premiership.

Matthew Lloyd, ALDERLEY EDGE, UK

An early Autumn General Election is essential to rid us of Mr Brown and his array of self seeking henchmen. While they play political infighting recessionary unemployment continues to rise and the UK becomes an indebted nation. Disgusting.

d.sloan, edinburgh, scotland

The UK's citizens should certainly make whatever political calls they feel are best. But it seems not all that long ago that many in the UK, including the press, could not wait for Mr. Blair to depart and hand over the reins to Mr. Brown. I guess we all should be careful for what we wish.

Terry L. Walker, Ladson, SC / USA

If Brown wants power, he would seek an audience with the Queen on Monday, and paralyse his party. As Samuel Johnson remarked, 'when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully'. He would then lose the election, but might survive as leader of the rump.

Mark, Oxford, UK

The public brawling by members of the Cabinet is hardly an edifying sight for the British people and is typical of a crumbling regime which tries to cling to power long after it should have been consigned to history. A General Election now is not only desirable, it is essential.

Colin Cumner, Adelaide, South Australia

Hasn't Harriet Harman got any pride? I recall her boasting about power to the sisters, but she's just shown how irrelevant she really is and how pathetically she allows this great buffoon of a man to walk all over her. Truly, she has no pride and no shame.

Helen Wright, Yorkshire, England

Gordon Brown expects absolute loyalty but doesn't expect to give any in return. Darling only remains in office because Brown is weak. His vision never wider than himself. Brown will fight to the bitter end. In his eyes he is justified in dragging Britain & the Labour Party with him to achieve this.

John Goode, Welwyn Garden City, UK

I thought the undead (or ZOMBIES as most people know them) weren't real!!! All credit to Gordon Brown and his cabinet for proving they are. Brain dead the lot of them!!! Time to put them out of thier misery - lets have an election!!

Paul B, Aberdeen, Scotland

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