TORIES MAKING A MISTAKE FOCUSING ON GORDON BROWN
The Tories slipping poll lead in graphical form
The latest story stinks doesn’t it. Andrew Rawnsley has a book to sell, and makes some sensationalist claims that seems to have come from watching “The Thick of It” a few times too many.
Then a woman called Christine Pratt, who runs a charity that conveniently caries a message of support from David Cameron on its website, and which has Tory big-wig Anne Widdicombe as a sponsor, makes a claim that several Downing Street staff have contacted her to discuss Gordon Brown’s alleged bullying.
So why, if these calls really existed, did she breach confidentiality? How many staff does she think work at Number Ten, if they really existed hasn’t she made them identifiable, and therefore made their alleged situation worse?
This is a nasty personalised smear, because the Tories want to make this election about personalities to deflect attention from their policies.
But it isn’t working, because actually Gordon Brown is coming across quite well under the scrutiny. He can sell it as a virtue that he isn’t obsessed with spin and image, and that he is concentrating on doing the job instead.
There is everything to play for, and what we need to do is turn the attention onto the Tories policies. Voters need to be asking the questions:
What would have happened to our jobs of David Cameron’s economic policies had been followed during the banking crisis? What will happen to the economy if the Tories make the swinging cuts they are suggesting? What will happen to services for the poor and most vulnerable? How would a Cameron government respond to climate change, when there is a new wave of deniers and sceptics elected as Tory MPs?
Adam Bienkov digs the dirt on the so-called charity: http://torytroll.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-are-national-bullying-helpline.html
What’s the left-hand scale on the first graphic about?
Comment by KrisS — 22 February, 2010 @ 9:14 am
Tne first graph has David cameron’s percentage approval lead over Gordon brown on the left hand side, and the Tories lead over Labour on the left hand side.
That is, the axis of the fiorst graph plots the difference between the red and blue plots on the second graph.
Comment by Andy Newman — 22 February, 2010 @ 9:17 am
This is interesting from the report:
Since mid September, the percentage of people believing that the Conservatives ‘stand up for people like me’ has fallen from 21 to 17. The percentage of people thinking that the party ‘has plenty of ideas’ has fallen from 31 to 26, while the proportion who think it is ‘unclear what it stands for’ has risen from 31 to 37 per cent.
Meanwhile, the percentage who see the Tories as ‘stuck in the past’ has risen from 22 to 27.
Looking at Labour’s figures over the same period, the opposite trends are apparent. 18 per cent of people now believe that party ‘stands up for people like me’ compared to 14 per cent in September. The percentage of people who think that Labour is ‘interested in helping everybody’ is now 20, up from 15.
The percentage who think Labour ‘has plenty of ideas’ has risen from 10 to 16 per cent, while the proportion of people who think the party is ‘unclear what it stands for’ has fallen by ten percentage points, from 52 to 42 per cent.
The proportion of people who view Labour as ‘stuck in the past’ has also fallen, from 40 to 33 percent.
Comment by Andy Newman — 22 February, 2010 @ 9:18 am
Wow, here is Socialist Unity standing up for Gordon Brown, the man who is funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a man most of the readers of this website consider to be a war criminal, and yet, just yet, Socialist Unity is standing tall beside its self proclaimed war criminal.
The left seemed to have lost its moral rudder.
Comment by The Obvious — 22 February, 2010 @ 9:29 am
Andy Newman
Its unsurprising you repeat the Downing Street denial brief, and leap to the defence of Brown over the bullying accusations.
But since you want Brown, and his gang of war-criminals to be reelected, what’s a bit of bullying here or there.
As a life long socialist I find it disgusting that you’ve turned over your blog as a brazen campaigning outlet for NuLab.
Comment by Bern — 22 February, 2010 @ 10:17 am
What a confused and ignorant piece of writing this is.
Does anyone remember Benny the Binman and his delving into people’s bins (~politicians)
to gather dirt on them? New Labour embraced him.It’s politics.It’s a dirty game.Do you think
New Labour aren’t capable of this level of smear?
As for Brown not being obsessed with spin and image,c’mon,Damian MacBride tried to smear Cameron as having an embarrassing medical condition,as well as equally distasteful and untrue stuff about the
predicatable tablod fodder of gays,prostitutes and wives; all sanctioned by Brown. And Campbell,the lying bastard of the War Machine,and Mandelson, is back in the fold.
Did you mention the banks? Brown gifted the banks with years of deregulatory policy. My mate at
Merryl Lynch said Gordon’s nickname was Golden Brown because policy allowed private hedge funds and
equity funds to thrive,and all with borrowed capital, which increased debt repayments.This has led to
an impact on pension schemes and the available capital left at the end (details supplied if nec).
which has led to hard-working,honest people being shafted while city boys have earned millions in
bonuses. The other area of the workforce to really have benefited are the consultants and middle-management,tick-box monkies,not taechers,nurse,health workers,social workers,cleaners or anyone else
who does a job that creates a sense of well-being in the community rather than just one-dimensional
profit for shareholders.(The activities of hedge funds et al,meant ordinary homes had loan interest increased,too).
Also Brown has kept taxes low, so as not to offend the super-tax set,Tony and Peter’s friends.
Picture if you will Branson’s beaming desert island smile and his Business Council friends all
agreeing to keep taxes low to allow for their businesses to further thrive.
Also,a friend of mine in Manchester,reminded me that over the last thirty years,bases on a report
Changing UK,the North-south economic divide is the highest for thirty years and that the gap between
rich and poor in theses areas exceeds even the national norm,which is higher than at any time post-war.
Please,let’s be clear - the tories will be even worse,but with Gordon and his mates,it’s still
going to be very,very shit as the piles of evidence in official goverment record offices proves.
Let’s not try to whitewash the godawful time NewLabour have had already,shitting on the heads of the poor,please.
P.S. Anyone for a Malvinas War?
Comment by bob hope — 22 February, 2010 @ 10:28 am
Behind this assault on Brown’s character is a recognition by the Tories that he is difficult to attack from the rights (Blair’s quartermaster, architect of PFI, World Bank orthodox etc etc).
Plus panic at the eroding opinion poll lead.
Hence this kind of tactic. Expect more of the same.
Comment by Nick Wright — 22 February, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
We should be pretty sceptical about New Labour attempts to ’shoot the messenger’, and do as much damage to Christine Pratt and her charity as possible, we’ve seen this mud-slinging juggernaut aimed so many times before at anyone who crosses New Labour.
Trade Unions should try to protect whistleblowers, as the automatic tendency is for whole organisations to turn against them personally, rather than to confront the issues the whistleblower is highlighting. This gives things like workplace bullying the permission to continue - and the tone is set from the top.
Comment by River — 22 February, 2010 @ 12:47 pm
We’re going to see all kinds of smears and allegations from both sides, as the election is likely to be politics free, both parties having virtually the same neoliberal cuts agenda (only differing slightly over timing of cuts).
The original ‘bullying’ allegations however come not from the Tory Party, but from Andrew Rawnsley, who as journalists go seems to have a fairly reliable track record on solid factual reporting.
Rawnsley’s account (from the segment I’ve read in the Observer), if anything reads like a paean of praise to Blair and Mandelson when compared with Brown’s indecisiveness, dark moods and general ineptitude - perhaps those blaming the Tories as the coordinators of this attack are looking in the wrong place…
Christine Pratt says she expected No10 to take Rawnsleys allegations seriously and investigate them, the blanket denial No10 issued prompted Pratt to intervene herself, this has given Labour a convenient target to divert attention from actually answering or addressing the problems identified in Rawnsley’s account.
Comment by River — 22 February, 2010 @ 2:04 pm
#8
it is pretty disgraceful to make this point in defence of “National Bullying Helpline”, an organisatin with a reputation for referring cleints t a private company owned by the same people who run the charity, who are prepared to shop the whistle blowers to their employers, and which advertsises its servcies to employers as being able to deal with vexatious complaints over bulying.
Comment by Andy Newman — 22 February, 2010 @ 2:11 pm
You really need to get clear in your mind who you are defending here Andy.
Are you defending Gordon Brown from ’smears’?
Are you defending Gordon Brown’s alleged ‘victims’ from being made even more vulnerable to bullying?
You seem to be trying to do both at once - defending both the victims and the alleged perpetrators.
This means you’re committing exactly the same mistake as you accuse the charity of.
I’ll continue to take Gordon Brown’s supporters’ concerns for the confidentiality of his alleged victims with a very big pinch of salt.
Comment by River — 22 February, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
If there have been any complaints of bullying in this or any other workplace, then they should be dealt with through the appropriate channels, in the civil service that would be via a formal grievance procedure with the support of their trade union.
It should not be decided by third hand tittle tattle and media huff and puff.
Comment by Andy Newman — 22 February, 2010 @ 2:57 pm
I’m pleased that Labour is beginning to realise that getting behind its leaders and policies is the way forward. Everyone makes mistakes and takes their eye off the ball but mature leaders and parties can get over this. Now Labour is focused on being fit for purpose the Tories will have less to exploit.
Now it’s becoming clear that Tory claims about Labour are mostly the Tories talking about themselves the question of Cameron’s bullying and right wing media censorship spring to mind. It’s ironic that Cameron’s parrot like copying of Tony Blair bought him some success while Labour hitting Cameron with own campaign style is hurting him so badly.
The Tories can dish it out but can’t take it.
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