THE TELEGRAPH: What is happening to Gordon Brown now makes John Major's government look like a triumph, observes Simon Heffer.
Watching an embalmed-looking and robotic-sounding Gordon Brown giving his press conference, one recognised one of the failings of our otherwise revered constitution: that it places no bar on a man who has taken leave of his senses still holding Her Majesty's commission as first minister. No government has had so bad a day since Black Wednesday, 17 years ago; and let us not forget the revenge the country took for that.
What is happening now makes John Major's government look like a triumph. We do not need to rehearse here the litany of disasters affecting Mr Brown and his administration, but let us anyway: the haemorrhaging of cabinet ministers, the demands from backbenchers that he go, the withering contempt of former colleagues, the abuse from the feminist "sisterhood", the inability to handle the expenses scandal, the shattered wreck of the British economy, the botched reshuffle, a backbencher walking out and forcing a by-election, a slaughter in the local elections and, on Sunday, the possibility of Labour's being beaten by both the Lib Dems and Ukip.
How much more proof of his utter unsuitability to lead a party or a government does Mr Brown need? And, now the momentum has started, how much more encouragement does his party need to boot him out, and to live up to their rhetoric of doing what is right for the country?
For most people in Mr Brown's position, just watching a recording of their own press conference would be enough to make them reach for the revolver and the bottle of Scotch. But Mr Brown isn't most people. He is never wrong – or at least, despite his hints about mistakes, can never admit he is, even to himself. Mistakes are things inevitably made by others. He has an entourage of oiling and greasing cronies, many of them mediocrities powered by rampant ambition, some of whom prospered in the reshuffle. Those who offer differing opinions are reviled, humiliated, and see the rough side of Mr Brown's occasionally infantile personality. That is why several politicians can no longer bear to work for him. However bad the public find him, the reality is even worse. >>> By Simon Heffer | Friday, June 05, 2009
