New Year despair instead of Christmas hope

In his last set-piece news conference of 2008, Gordon Brown told journalists that Britain had been a “victim” of the economic downturn which, he claimed for the umpteenth, came from abroad.
Meanwhile, many respected commentators continue to say he much the Prime Minister appears to be enjoying himself as the financial crisis deepens and as more and more people lose their jobs, their livelihoods and their homes.

It will not surprise anyone when I say I’m not a huge fan of Gordon Brown.

However, his obstinate refusal to accept responsibility for any of his glaring mistakes and his obsessive belief that he is right and everyone else is wrong in relation to his handling of the economy is becoming disturbing in the extreme.

The weekend newspapers seems to suggest that there is a less than 50% of a General Election in 2009 which would guarantee up to 18 more months of this man as our Prime Minister.

Christmas should be a time of hope and good cheer but I’m afraid these are emotions I am having difficulty in summoning up at the present time.

Iraq war inquiry should be held

Today in the House of Commons, Gordon Brown again defied the wishes of all of the other political parties by rejecting calls for an inquiry into the Iraq war.

As David Cameron said in his response to the Prime Minister’s statement, the inquiry should be independent, have a wide remit and possess the power to question ministers.

Gordon Brown’s response was that an inquiry should not be held whilst troops are still in theatre – but that is to miss the point.

Whilst most of our soldiers will soon be leaving Iraq, they will remain in Afghanistan, probably for many years to come.

We owe it to them and their families – and to the memory of the 178 men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq – to ensure that any mistakes made in the Gulf since 2003 are not repeated.

For once, Gordon Brown should show both courage and leadership by agreeing to an immediate inquiry.

The right decision for the right reasons?

As en ex-squaddie and someone who was opposed to the Iraq war from the outset, I am pleased that Gordon Brown has today announced the Government’s plans to pull British troops out of the country from next spring.

However, unfortunately it’s difficult not to question his true motives in, first, taking this decision and, secondly, making this public now.

Grabbing the headlines will, as ever, be at the top of the list.

But could his move be even more calculated than this?

Could he be clearing the decks for a General Election early in 2009, perhaps in February/March?

By shutting down the Iraq war as a campaign issue, he has set up the potential for an election that would effectively be a referendum on who is best to run the economy.

Gordon Brown with his “grand plan” which, in his own misguided view, has already saved the world? Or the “do nothing Tories,” as the Prime Minister and his grovelling acolytes have tried to label the Conservatives.

The longer Gordon Brown waits, the more the economy will deteriorate and the more people will realise that his “grand plan” is hugely flawed and almost certainly crippling for this country for many years to come.

This suggests it is therefore in his best interests to go early.

No doubt, our forever indecisive Prime Minister will not yet have made up his mind.

But, from the point of view of my own General Election campaign, I’ll be ready when he is.

Upstaging Her Majesty

As Shadow Chancellor George Osborne pointed out last night, the detail of Gordon Brown’s announcement on help with mortgage payments for people who lose their jobs is much more relevant than the headlines he managed to generate.

The Prime Minister claimed in the House of Commons that the eight major mortgage lenders had signed up for the plan.

However, it later became apparent that two of them - Lloyds TSB and HBOS - had not yet agreed to the details of the scheme and that all eight had been less than fully consulted.

If the scheme genuinely helps people to keep their homes, then it must be welcomed.

But there are two major questions relating to the timing of the announcement, the answers to which reveal a lot about the state of the Labour Government at the present time and the vanity and the sheer calculating nature of Gordon Brown.

Firstly, why was the announcement not included in last week’s Pre-Budget Report when this would have been the obvious place for it? The answer, according to Treasury sources, is that they hadn’t thought of it by then.

And, secondly, once the decision had been made to proceed with the proposal, why wasn’t it then included in the Queen’s Speech?

The answer to this is easier to give: Gordon Brown decided not to risk being upstaged by Her Majesty and, instead, held the detail back so he could announce it to Parliament himself, grab the headlines and seek to wrong foot David Cameron.

At a time of grave economic difficulty, people should be able to feel that the Government knows what it is doing on their behalf, is not making decisions on the hoof and, when it does decide to make a call, the policy announcement is not then choreographed simply to make the Prime Minister look good.

We have long come to expect incompetence from this Labour Government but, when it comes to the antics of the Prime Minister, I never thought I’d say it – the present incumbent makes even Tony Blair look sincere.