You can’t call the extreme criticism deluging Gordon Brown as a witchhunt, because after all he is a man, so it must be a Warlock hunt. From time to time I have criticised his statements, and his government, as so many people have, but I now believe that it has risen to such absurd proportions as to become totally unfair, unproductive, and a serious reflection on how we are viewed from abroad. He came to power as Prime Minister with the overall approval of the Labour Party, not by his own volition. He served under Tony Blair, who ignored his cabinet and treated them as if they were superfluous, with the result that some of the more strong willed resigned. This was no training ground for a future Prime Minister, who by his very nature tended to be reclusive. Hanging over him was this ‘will I won’t I’ concept of the chances of ever moving into number 10. I think that Tony Blair gave more credence to his spin doctor, whom he ultimately sacked, than he ever did to anyone in the Cabinet. Gordon Brown was particularly unfortunate in the timing of when he came to power, partly due to Blair not honouring his original agreement. Also, Gordon Brown is not an extrovert, which in itself makes his job more difficult.
Since coming to power, we have had serious crises of one sort of another that could never have been imagined by the average person, but the people looking after our welfare, and that includes Gordon, should have at least taken measures to halt the overspend that was so prevalent, and so widely condemned, resulting in the crunch. One of the most serious problems has been the intrusive nature of media reporting, making suppositions that ultimately turn out to have no basis of wrongdoing, but waste valuable time being dealt with and or answered. This was totally irresponsible, and I lay it at two doors, electioneering by the opposition, and a desire to create sensationalism in order to sell papers. This is further accentuated by the spin doctors or those around him, advising the Prime Minister to go public, when he should not give credence to this onslaught.
When people in responsibility are treated despicably, and at the same time there is a wish to maintain a high standard of capability within those responsible posts, you will inevitably disillusion any quality candidates who might have considered putting themselves forward, who would now seek their future in other media or abroad. It is time for the slanging match to come to a halt, for those in charge to stop dancing to the tunes of the media, and instead get on with the job in hand, and make it clear that there are proper channels for complaints if they can be justified, otherwise they will be ignored.