I voted for the first time in the 2005 General Election (I think I voted Labour), and ever since had become fascinated and gradually more emotionally embroiled in Politics. After a couple of years (2007) I found my political voice – I was a supporter of the Left with some Liberal tendencies, a believer in the great social courses, such as greater equality, care and opportunity for all, the elimination of poverty, and the need to put aside selfish nationalist ways for the greater good of the World community.
Being the sad geek that I am, I frequently tuned in or recorded most of the weekly sessions of Prime Minister’s Questions to get a flavour of the political mood in Westminster.
So yes, you could take it from that, that I was a Labour supporter. My view on Tony Blair though was mixed. I admired him for fighting for what was right, but at the same time he often proved slightly delusional in the level of belief in some of his own Spin, which I didn’t like at all. You just can’t defend a point of view with Spin as it shows up your weaknesses and ultimately undermines you. As far as Iraq is concerned I do believe the illegal invasion was wrong. It was right to remove Saddam Hussein, but it should have been on considered UN terms, when all possible peaceful avenues had been spent. And further more it should have been planned much, much better, especially when it meant that strategic and military incompetence led to deaths of many thousands of innocent Iraqis who should never have been in the firing line.
However, when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in 2007 (after being Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years previously), things started to look up. Despite not having the same communicational skill as Tony Blair, he seemed, and later proved, to be a much more honest and decent man.
As we now know though, the bright future he wanted was not meant to be. Sure, every politician makes mistakes, and Brown made a few himself, such as the cancelled election and the accidental elimination of the 10p tax rate. Despite this though, I genuinely believe that Brown never did anything seriously wrong throughout his career in Government. Yet crisis after crisis challenged Brown; from month to month a new trouble would arise. From Floods to Volcanoes, from hyped up non-elections to incompetent civil servants, and all the while the National Media publically lynched him in text and verbal commentary every week. Trial by Fire doesn’t remotely cover what this poor man had to endure.
...and then the World Economy collapsed.
I don’t blame Gordon Brown for the financial crisis that has caused such pain for both people and businesses alike. It has been proven conclusively on several occasions that it was a WORLD banking crisis, mainly created by the careless, selfish and greedy actions of Western Banks around the World. In this country in particular, the framework of the financial system was setup in such a way that it allowed Banks to take huge risks with their capital for just short-term gains. It is true that in hindsight, Gordon Brown should have put more regulation into finance law, but he admits that as much himself, and nobody could have predicted at that time exactly what would happen.
However, my faith in the Labour Party waned considerably due to the overall performance of the Labour government. They seemed tired, and out of new ideas; and were overly reactive to the comments and agendas of the media. Making policy on the basis of newspaper headlines was bad government, and it showed that ministers cared more about their poll ratings than their long-term convictions. Gordon Brown seemed to be the only exception to this, but it didn’t matter in the end, because he was always made to take the buck for the failures of his cabinet. In the end, I had to feel sorry for him, as it literally appeared that almost everyone was against him, especially in the media. No wonder he was always angry and depressed, I know I would be.
Despite what you may think of Labour, it is my firm belief that Gordon Brown was one of the UK’s best and most respectable Prime Ministers of all time. He may have been socially inept at times, but being a bit like that myself, I can sympathise with that. It is also true that Brown took his time with important decisions too, but that didn’t make him a weak leader. If anything it meant he was being thorough and wanted to be as sure as possible that he was taking the right course of action. In my mind, he was sensitive and caring, hardworking and conscientious; a big man, with a big heart. Any future Prime Minister would do good to take a leaf out of Brown’s book.
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