1997 again
by Graham Davies

It is very difficult for a 12 year old government to present itself in a new way. In his Party Conference speech last October, Gordon Brown tried to re-brand Labour as the party that would create a "New Settlement" for the people of this country.

As a micro-message, it was both bkland and opaque. At the time, few people knew what he meant. 6 months later, few people can remember that he said it.

This is a government that has not run out of steam. It has run out of the will to live. The Parliamentary Labour Party is entirely aware of the uncomforatable similarities with the last year of the Major regime. There is a stale aroma of sleaze, individual abuse of privilege and general lack of competence.

And they just don't have any credible new ideas about fixing the economy that vary much from spending as much as possible with one hand and crossing the fingers of the other.

If Gordon Brown were the Chief Executive of a PLC, he would have had to resign, together with his top management team, many months ago. Perhaps he could have enjoyed a few laughs with Fred Goodwin at an undisclosed tropical location.

But our political system does not include a process for paying off a PM that we really should be rid of. Shame really.