Darling memoirs lift the lid on Gordon Brown's ranting, dysfunctional regime

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www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/gordon-brown/8740064/Gordon-Brown-was-close-to-firing-Alistair-Darling-on-five-occasions.html

This from the Independent is worth a read:

www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-why-did-nobody-stop-gordon-brown-2348855.html

Haven't read all the articles but I wanted to say I did get frustrated at last outpourings re dysfunctional Brown stories.......am not defending him but have worked in corporate for years and seen far far far worse. Am not defending this but there seems to be an expectation they should be saints.

Having said all that am not defending those that espouse family values then shag outside the family and those odious politicans who are secretly gay but don't defend gay rights. And don't get me started on the expenses scandal!

What am I saying? God only knows. Yes he was grumpy and shouty. But so?

Don't flame me. Genuinely interested.

how did I know who started this thread before I clicked on it...

Bullying and temper tantrums are nothing new in politics. But Brown does seem to have been particularly bad. He's decidedly weird - appointed all these non-politicians as advisers - remember his 'government of all the talents'? - but then never spoke to them or acknowledged them. I know a couple who said they gave up after spending a few months basically sending emails off into the ether which were never acknowledged, let alone replied to.

Equally Brown has his very strong points. He spoke very movingly at my old boss's memorial service (she had been a friend of his since they were at university). OK, lots of politicians are good public speakers, but he was really wonderful. 'Wee Gordon' as she used to call him did her extremely proud indeed.

I've just read the Times extract and it wasn't really the bullying and temper stuff which was shocking.

Brown plainly had very poor leadership skills. Once he had wrestled the PM job from Blair - he didn't seem to know what to do with it. He had no vision, no strategy for the country, it was all about tactically clinging to power.

If Darling is to be believed, dealing with the global banking crisis was Darling's achievment, with Brown merely interfering.

The Independent article I linked to earlier is really worth a read. It broadens the discussion to the implications for Labour.

One thing I do remember is when Gordon Brown was chancellor - every year he gave his predictions for the economy - every year rupert murdoch's press, the telegraph, mail and bbc said his predications were a lot of rubbish and spent the entire year trashing the man.

Then every year - they would all print a 10 line story on a page near the back of the paper (and sky and the bbc said nothing) stating - Gordon Brown's predications for the economy for the last year were correct!

Once I realised this I stopped listening to what the press said about Gordon Brown - because every year he proved them wrong - and he was dignified in his silence regarding their shoddy bias reporting.

Sadly if the papers keep saying the same thing is is so easy for people to believe it must be true - and when the media get it wrong - they don't give the fact they got it wrong the same front page headlines they gave their biased stories.

Maybe you would prefer the Guardian version?

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/04/alistair-darling-memoirs-gordon-brown

Or do you believe all the media is wrong about Brown .

I am not opening the Torygraph or the Times do you really think either paper is being objective.
He was a far better Chancellor than the useless fecker we have now.
I couldnt really care less if he temper tantrums or not.

Aquashiv - Please see my post just above yours & my first post on this thread. Unless you don't trust the Guardian or the Independent.

And The Times extract is pretty much in Darling's own words.....

Or are you waiting for the 'Horses Mouth' to speak?

Brown's economic predictions were famously overstated, every step of the way. That's why the spending was so generous, because it was based on a (let's be charitable) highly optimistic forecasts. When the revenues came in lower he ended up overspending rather than creating the surplus required by his 'Golden Rule'.... something that he later casually abandoned. So much for prudence.

It's not surprising that some people are bully-boys at the office. If anyone in the Labour Party had been that bothered at the time they'd have found a way to get rid of him. It was the hypocrisy I couldn't stand... pretending to be on the side of 'hard working families' etc.

Cognito - I think it is about seeing ideology as more important than personality or behaviour. This is a feature of most polical groups - but socialists are the most prone.

A good example is the French socialists covering up DSK's 'character imperfection because they saw his political potential.

IMO - many Labour ministers tolerated Brown because his ideology matched their own. His personal weakness and any mistakes he made was secondary.

"It was the hypocrisy I couldn't stand... pretending to be on the side of 'hard working families' etc".

Sounds like Camerscum to me

I tend to take with a pinch of salt the view of someone who has a grudge

Gillg57 - A pinch? I think you must live in a salt mine .

JackStarb yes my comment still stands thank you! Dont believe all you read in the papers.

Loving all the desperate attempts to reduce cognitive dissonance on this thread .