Would He Have Done Better Than Brown?

[youngmafbog]

I think he would have

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22039361

[aelmpvw]

not setting the bar very high is he?

[Gromit]

I think he probably would. Brown is not naturally a warm person, and his fake grin is scary. He is a more fluid and practised liar.

But lets not forget that even after 13 years of Labour, and a poor candidate as Brown, the Conservatives still failed to win a majority. Brown could still be Prime Minister if Clegg and a few others had swung the other way.

[VHG]

Almost anyone would have done better than Brown.

I watched an old Mock the Week news/quiz/comedy show the other day that was made when Brown was PM.

The ridicule that Brown was getting on the show was amazing and reminded me of what a "joke" he was during his time as PM.

[jake-the-peg]

That rather depends on what he'd done in the run up to the Bankers Bailout.

A bad handling of that would have been very easy and disasterous.

But if he'd been standing with Brown's record in 2010 I think he'd have probably have scraped in - as noted above Brown's media handling was nothing like as good an the Tories still failed to secure a majority.

But if he'd served out that term that would have been 18 years in number 10 - and made him the longest serving prime minister since the 18th century.

I'm not sure anybody could take that sort of pressure for that length of time in this day and age

[emmie]

no, his lying would have seen the back of him.

[LazyGun]

I am not sure that he would have done.Whilst he might have more personal charisma than Brown, I think Mr. Blair under-estimates the antipathy of the public toward him ,especially after Iraq.

[Bazile]

So why was he re-elected after the war ?

[emmie]

your guess is as good as mine, people liked his nice tanned face, or patter, who knows.

[emmie]

just goes to show what he thought of Gordon Brown.

[buildersmate]

Brown was a good manager (organiser of stuff), not a good leader (provider of vision and direction). They are two different animals and few people can do both well.

[dave50]

Because a lot of Labour voters are tribal, especially in the North, you know the type, "my father voted Labour and his father". So put a red rosette on a monkey and they would vote for them without thinking through any of the policies.

[naomi24]

Yes, I think so. He was disliked, but Brown was simply unfit for office.

[LazyGun]

Well, the second Iraqi war and the Invasion of Iraq happened in 2003?. His re-election was in the 2005 general election.

His majority was significantly reduced - down from around 180 or so majority in 1997 to 66 in 2005 - but more importantly, the scale and weight of evidence was not as evident back in 2005 as it later became. The findings of the Butler report just hadn't had the time to properly percolate into the public consciousness.

[emmie]

Gordon Brown was unpopular, not just because of his demeanour, that didn't help, but because he didn't seem to grasp that you have to have more than a rabid desire for the job to make a success of it, and the support of your colleagues. Not only that to declare, though he didn't know the mike was on, that the woman who asked him about immigration, was a bigot, rather put a nail into the coffin.

[Bazile]

I should think that the majority of politicians , blue or red hue , dont really give a sh1t about the public .

[jake-the-peg]

//Labour voters are tribal//

and Tory voters are exemplars of rational open minded decision making?

Come off it!

Many people owe party allegiences because they see one party or the other as exemplifying their values

That's not tribal any more that Tory loyalty to free-market capitalism or Grammar schools is.

[DangerUXD]

No I dont't think so, the electorate had already given Labour 3 terms much more than ever before. Tell you what though this outburst from Bliar highlights the sheer brutality of Blair and the WWW, they don't care about anyone but themselves and this latest slight at Brown just shows the comtempt with which he holds Brown. Ok I've never liked any of them but I'd rather have pint with Brown anyday.

All the above said though that rarely do the public vote for a party they mainly vote against the incimbent, the irrational desire for "change" is the overiding perview of the terminally hopeless who think that a new government might in some way make up for their short commings.

That's why the governement is, has been and always will be elected by 5-10% of the electorate.

[Gromit]

Blair would have done a lot better in the televised debates which Brown convincingly lost. Labour are not in power now because the electorate turned to the Conservatives. The Conservatives are in coaltion because the LibDems performed better than expected. Due mostly to Clegg wiping the floor with Brown and propping up a party with no overall majority.

I suspect Blair, if he was in the same position as Brown was after the election result, would have done a damn sight better at wooing Clegg. And we might have had an altogether different coalition.

[emmie]

JTP
so no one else went to or were made good by attending a Grammar school, strange that because i am pretty sure they were held up as good schools by and large, not elitist as you seem to think.

[modeller]

No! Blair was already on his way out when he conveniently handed over to Brown. He saw the country was in a mess and got out quick. He and his family were seen as a self serving clan. This was recognised in Europe when Blair was rejected as the EUs first president. They saw his pro EU stance and especially givng back half our discount as a bribe. As it was expressed to me at a German meeting " The presidency is not for sale.
He had been their first choice but they saw through the facade and most of their newspapers wrote "Why do we want him ? Even his own people don't .