Gordon Brown for PM?

[Wilkolampshade]

I don't know, just watching the Blair/Brown documentary, does anyone think we could/should bring back Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party for a shot at P. M?
YABU... Absolutely not, what ARE you thinking?!?!
YANBU.... Why not, how much worse could it get?

[JudgeRindersMinder]

@NursieBernard

John Smith and Gordon Brown would have made a brilliant Prime Minister and Chancellor pairing. Gordon Brown is my top Prime Minister in recent history.

I’ve always said that John Smith did the nation a huge disservice when he passed away so suddenly and unexpectedly!
I’m obviously tongue in cheek with how I word that, and it’s easy to speak about what might have been when you don’t have any actual facts to back it up, but John Smith did seem to have the country’s rather than his own interests at heart

[RedToothBrush]

Good god no.

I'd argue Cameron wasn't worse as PM

[FurierTransform]

No, he was terrible.

[amazeandastonish]

I think he was a really good PM but people wanted the youth / polish of Cameron and Clegg rather than someone who just wanted to get on with doing the job. I also felt (and still feel) that tv debates are a stupid American thing that we don't need. I was really sad to see him go.

[Beancounter1]

Gordon Brown kept us out of the Euro currency when Blair was desperate to join it. I will be forever grateful to GB for that.

[torquewench]

@Jaysmith71

The key to Andy Burnham is that speech in front of the Kop:

"There will not be a public enquiry....."

(Crowd boos a lot)

"...There will be a public enquiry. Justice For The Ninety Six...."

(Crowd cheers.)


Pragmatic and sensible, or blows with the wind?

You decide.

Blows like a barn door with good PR in a hurricane.

[twilightermummy]

GetOffTheTableMabel

NursieBernard
She was a bigot.
She really was grin

I was not much of a fan at the time but I would weep with gratitude if he returned

Gosh, I completely agree with ALL OF THIS!

[ejhhhhh]

The "bigoted woman" comment isn't a patch on some of the stuff that Boris Johnson has come out with. You seriously think people wouldn't vote for him because he said that, yet they're happy to vote for "piccaninnies", "watermelon smiles" Johnson. From that you either you conclude that the general public don't really care how offensive politicians are, or that we are a country of bigots.

[Tilltheend99]

He was the best PM we ever had (in my lifetime) he started shore start and put lots of money into early years and genuinely cared about children and ending child poverty. He is also the reason Scotland stayed in the Union (even if they regret it now) as he is a really good orator.

Rupert Murdoch hated him and tore him apart in the press. The only reason he lost the election was because he called that racist old woman a bigot in private but still had his mic on.

The people who are voting UABU need to watch that doc so they can see how easily they were hoodwinked because David Cameron may have had the smile and the nice suits but his program of austerity has now been proven to have taken years off of the life expectancy of (mainly) men in Northern industrial cities.

And btw GB was a talented economist who literally saved us from the worst of the banking crash. The Tories created this whole narrative about no money based on one tongue in cheek post it note at the exchequer but national debt has only gone up under the Conservatives even before their pandemic spending.

[SickAndTiredAgain]

@ejhhhhh

The "bigoted woman" comment isn't a patch on some of the stuff that Boris Johnson has come out with. You seriously think people wouldn't vote for him because he said that, yet they're happy to vote for "piccaninnies", "watermelon smiles" Johnson. From that you either you conclude that the general public don't really care how offensive politicians are, or that we are a country of bigots.

Agreed.

I’m not sure about having him back as PM but given who our current PM is, this really shouldn’t be a deal breaker.

[acoldwintersday]

@Badbadbunny

Tax credits were not a 'foul up', they lifted many children out of poverty. The Torie's brainchild Universal Credit on the other hand, has pushed many children back into living in poverty.

I'm not a Labour voter, but I did like Gordon Brown. He seemed like a serious politician.

[KitchenKrisis]

No.

Not after his comment to that lady that time.

[XingMing]

GB stayed clear of the Euro, for which I award him a plus. But his removal of the pension dividend credit in his first budget as Chancellor instantly put a depthcharge under the pension system that had very largely and for a very long time, meant that pension funds grew (if not steadily) for the long term. So many old time defined benefit schemes were withdrawn in favour of much more riskily invested defined contribution schemes, across the public sector and elsewhere, because the risk shifted from the employer to the employee.

[riotlady]

Yes, I think he’s the best of recent years and actually a sensible person, which would be a refreshing change

[SickAndTiredAgain]

‘I think Gordon Brown came across much worse than her in that exchange - it showed him to look duplicitous and two-faced.’

I really hate it when people are called two faced when what they are actually doing is just being polite in a given situation. Why is it two faced to be polite to someone you think is a bigot? Why is that worse than being rude to their face? Am I being awfully two faced when I’m polite to my colleague’s face but complain about him to my DH? Isn’t that just how normal people are in social situations? People who aren’t classed as two faced in these situations must either like everybody, or spend a lot of their time being rude. Of course politicians don’t like everyone they chat pleasantly to while campaigning, and of course they’ll mention it to people privately (or not, in this case).

[ElizaDarcysDeeds]

I almost mentioned that I'd met him on the 'celebs' thread He was surprisingly charismatic and passionate in RL. He's the only person/celeb/politician I've met who was completely different in RL from how he appeared on camera and in the media. I couldn't decide if there are just some people who don't work well on camera or if the media deliberately made him look dry and dull.
I didn't like his contributions to the Scottish referendum but I would still rather have him as PM than Boris or Starmer.

[willstarttomorrow]

@58ejhhhhh well that is the interesting thing. People still remember GB's comment but Mr Johnson is teflon. A racist, misogynist and homophobe amoungst other things but apparently he does not need to be held to account. Never mind allowing hundreds of thousands to die because of the way he managed covid and the state of the country due to his 'oven ready brexit'. It is like the population of the UK are indulgent parents of an indulged and spoiled toddler who is 'just a bit spirited'.

[LuluJakey1]

He has a level of personal integrity and concern for the less fortunate in society and social justice that is admirable. He is thoroughly decent.

[rrhuth]

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

I liked Brown but the trouble with someone with a track record is that there are too many things to attack him on.
Both ‘just a bigoted woman’ and leaving the treasury empty would make him toxic to many many people including Labour voters.

Well the woman was bigoted, but of course we all have to pretend that being anti-immigration is a 'legitimate' perspective.

And he didn't leave the treasury empty, there was a global economic crash which started in the US. It isn;t like he spent the money on dodgy contracts for his mates unlike this bunch of charlatans.

I'd have Brown back, I really wish he had gone for the early election, we oculd have avoided Cameron altogether if we were lucky - then no referendum and therefore we wouldn't have the present twat.

[Watchingyou2sleezes]

@ iggly
If that's your best efforts at thinking I'd suggest you practice a bit more.

Beyond the damage they wreaked upon the social fabric and the endless fiscal foolishness, we've only just began to pay the price for one of their most disastrous policies of the lot, 20 years of wage suppression now inflating it's way through the economy at exactly the wrong moment, you think Joe the transport manager is going to be happy with his driver's earning as much as him? Course not, when he kicks off for his differential to be maintained too do you think the distribution centre manager isn't going to kick off for his differential?
On top of a supply chain crisis that's going to take 2 years to flush through causing supply side inflation we're going to see wage inflation (on the back of next to no productivity gains) looping around and round. Interest rates up, savings reduced, more foolhardy households will struggle to pay for their housing, oh it will be lovely, coinciding with the chickens coming home to roost with regards to this country's cretinous energy policies (origins of which are very much with Blair & Brown).
We're only just beginning to pay properly for the damage inflicted by those 2 goons and I've yet to mention their efforts in the Middle East...

[XingMing]

I have a lot of time for GB, especially now he's an elder and can comment freely without having to toe the party line. But back in the early 2000s when he was vying with TB for the soul of the Labour Party, his blind eye (lost playing rugby I think) made him look shifty on camera. Which is not a criticism of his views or opinions. I am a One Nation Tory and could/did/do regard GB as a very serious political operator, although I didn't always agree with his every word. I did trust his probity at every stage, and the PP who said above that there's a degree of tact and diplomacy that should be applied to every voter encounter was not approving of him being two-faced. Sadly there are far too many people who think a disagreement on political views means thumbs up to taking the law into their own hands. RIP David Amess.

[SickAndTiredAgain]

his blind eye (lost playing rugby I think) made him look shifty on camera.

I genuinely despair if this is seen as relevant by anyone.

[XingMing]

There is a huge chasm between being anti-immigation and wanting controlled immigration. The UK's replacement birth rate is falling, so we need immigration and casual migrant labour. BUT, and it's a big BUT, we are also a smallish island that is densely populated already. So we need to be highly selective when it comes to the millions who think they would like to live here, and why they wish to be part of the UK narrative.

[XingMing]

@SickAndTiredAgain, I mention it only because I don't think it was very well understood at the time.

[ddl1]

I'm a real Gordon Brown fan, and would like that personally. (Or, even better, his wife Sarah!) But I don't think he'd be elected, or perhaps even want to do it.

Anyway, there won't be a general election for 2 or 3 years and anything could happen by then.