Poor Gordon Brown must be thinking his Premiership is jinxed; and dear old Mr Blair must be chortling into his Pina Colada tonight. Peter Hain is now set to spend more time with his tan and the pension holders of the nation rejoice. The snare of the media now turns to the impact upon Gordon, now that he's lost his first cabinet minister.
Of all the charges laid against the Prime Minister tonight, I believe the most damaging to Mr Brown is that of dithering. From the cancelled election to Northern Rock and now Peter Hain (he should have been sacked weeks ago).
Dithering is the one thing - the one underlying characteristic - that will lose Brown the sympathy of the British people. We like decisive leaders, we want people to take charge; we voted in Thatcher and Blair with landslide majorities and yet large numbers hated one, or other, or both.
The one thing I have always respected about some people is their ability to make decisions. Be it in school or in politics, nobody wants to hear "I'll sleep on it", "I'll think about it" or "I'll mull that one over." We want something to happen and we want it to happen now. I want a leader, an MP and a PM who make decisions and make things happen.
The more and more we hear of Brown's dithering, the more his total persona is undermined. Is there any way back for a dithering PM?
Showing posts with label peter hain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peter hain. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Hain won't go, but he should consider this...
If Peter Hain resigns as Work & Pensions Secretary on Monday morning, he'll be back in the cabinet before the next General Election.
The one thing that strikes even politics students is this; as Ministerial resignations (for whatever reason) decrease, the liklihood of a return to frontline politics increases. David Blunkett had two shots in the cabinet, as did Peter Mandelson; despite quitting for much worse a cause than Hain might.
The reason so many people despair of politics and believe that MPs are in it for themselves is the kind of corrputing arrogance that keeps Hain in office. People might have slightly more respect for such men if they were prepared to let go of office rather than be dragged out.
If Hain resigned, he could restore some trust in politics, serve out his pennance on the backbenches and I bet he's be back in Brown's top team by the election (unless, of course, Mr Brown is less forgiving of allies than Mr Blair).
The fact that he won't says a lot about himself and might actually exclude him from holding high office in the first place - in the eyes of some people!
The one thing that strikes even politics students is this; as Ministerial resignations (for whatever reason) decrease, the liklihood of a return to frontline politics increases. David Blunkett had two shots in the cabinet, as did Peter Mandelson; despite quitting for much worse a cause than Hain might.
The reason so many people despair of politics and believe that MPs are in it for themselves is the kind of corrputing arrogance that keeps Hain in office. People might have slightly more respect for such men if they were prepared to let go of office rather than be dragged out.
If Hain resigned, he could restore some trust in politics, serve out his pennance on the backbenches and I bet he's be back in Brown's top team by the election (unless, of course, Mr Brown is less forgiving of allies than Mr Blair).
The fact that he won't says a lot about himself and might actually exclude him from holding high office in the first place - in the eyes of some people!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Cameron and Hain - they both know what to do!
There is much discussion over at pb.com about Cameron's rather slick PR machine and their current work. The past week has bene a quiet one, politically speaking, and only 2 men know how to exploit that.
David Cameron doesn't use one of those famous political grids. He reacts to breaking news extremely well, but he also knows how to exploit quiet news periods. How has Cameron managed to lead on the BBC Politics site two days running ... and how has the government let him do this? Are they so devoid of ideas that they cannot wheel something out to knock the Tory Leader off the lead item? You've got to hand it to Cameron, he knows what to do.
Similarly the other man who knows what to do is Labour's Deputy Leadership hopeful Peter Hain. I know that Hain has come under pressure because of his seemingly endless bandwagon jumping, but he has siezed the initiative and made a couple of fine centre-left announcements that have been well covered because of the quiet news agenda. Like him or loath him, Hain knows what to do too!
David Cameron doesn't use one of those famous political grids. He reacts to breaking news extremely well, but he also knows how to exploit quiet news periods. How has Cameron managed to lead on the BBC Politics site two days running ... and how has the government let him do this? Are they so devoid of ideas that they cannot wheel something out to knock the Tory Leader off the lead item? You've got to hand it to Cameron, he knows what to do.
Similarly the other man who knows what to do is Labour's Deputy Leadership hopeful Peter Hain. I know that Hain has come under pressure because of his seemingly endless bandwagon jumping, but he has siezed the initiative and made a couple of fine centre-left announcements that have been well covered because of the quiet news agenda. Like him or loath him, Hain knows what to do too!
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