Now Blears joins in!

It is one thing for disaffected Blairites with delusions of grandeur stabbing you in the back but when a member of your cabinet goes for the hammer and chisel approach, you must question if GB has any control of his charges? Now Ms Blears’ column is 90% sensible: ‘win on policy, not rhetoric or soundbite’, but she is not so naive to realise that this would be twisted by the media to suggest post Brown positioning? Either way GB needs to ditch her at the next opportunity.

Hazel Blears suffers foot in mouth disease

Hazel tells it as she would like to be seen by a future Labour leader:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/02/hazel-blears-labour-gordon-brown

The ‘too late’ support for GB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erR2S7rvGdM

Blunkett & Clarke put the boot in

Charles Clarke has popped up again twisting the knife into GB.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8028170.stm

Is he preparing for a spring stalking horse campaign?

The MPs’ Expenses Farce continues

An incompetent government seemingly led by events rather than leading, an emboldened opposition, the trickle of public backing being lost being turned into a flood. They say that history repeats itself but thirteen years seems like an awfully short time.

One wonders why, when an independent enquiry is due to report before the year end on the comprehensive issue of allowances, the government would seek to pick a fight now. One can only think that Gordon Brown has lost touch with all reality! The damage to his reputation and that hint of sleaze is done but deferring to an independent body would surely lead to this story slipping away. His insistence on meddling has kept this story in the news far longer than would otherwise have happened.

Gordon Brown’s government is a dead man walking. June 2010 cannot come too soon.

Northern Shock

As the government prepares to nationalise Northern Rock, we must ask ourselves how would a Conservative government have dealt with the situation. Of course what should have happened is that the company should have been allowed to fall as a warning to us all. But of course the public relations disaster meant that this is not a viable option for a government of any colour.

With this in mind, I still believe that the correct course would have been to exercise the Government’s arm as the biggest stakeholder to effectively nationalise the company. Now I know that nationalisation is not on a right wing government’s agenda but, this would effectively give senior management time to restructure the company and then sell it in two years time once the market has calmed.

What is actually happening is that the tail is wagging the dog as shareholders are demanding a higher price. The government should screw its courage to the sticking post and pay the shareholders nothing.

To the shareholders: ‘Caveat emptor’!