Despite the objections of some of us professing opinions that would make us naturally hostile to the speech of a Labour leader, the mainstream portrayal of Gordon Brown’s conference speech has been one of a further stay of execution. Not the “speech of his life”, although it may well have been, but generally speaking good enough to buy him some more time as the occupant of Number 10.
This, as far as I can observe, is the story of Gordon Brown’s premiership. Harold Macmillan wisely observed that events are indeed the most likely thing to blow a government off course. For Mr. Brown however it appears that the only course he and his government has is lurching from one event to the next with no clear direction or plan of action. At first this was accepted as some form of decisive leadership, as the floods and the abortive attack on a Piccadilly nightclub and Glasgow airport demonstrated. One year on however and it has worn thin.
Gordon Brown’s government has consisted almost entirely of small-scale tactical positioning and responses to events not of their choosing. It is small wonder then that the electorate have been such fair-weather friends in the face of economic crisis. As I observed earlier this week, the public are willing to make great sacrifices if they feel that it is in the service of something they can believe in. Focusing on short-term victories and muddling through crises without any overall strategy or vision will not win the public over to any demand for sacrifice, either from politicians or the economic environment.
This may be inevitable. Mr. Brown’s cautious and calculating personality is at odds with the idea of bold, decisive leadership that the public craves in times of crisis. It is not however in the interest of either the public or the Labour Party in general. Without a coherent vision, set of ideas, or strong leadership, he will not be able to regain the respect of the public and restore their trust in him or his government.
A Prime Minister needs to do more than just assert who he is and what he believes in. He has to explain not only where he is coming from, but where he is going.
When Macmillan referred to “events, dear boy, events”, he was referring to their ability to blow the ship of state off-course. The problem the present government has is that is has no course, but is instead drifting in stormy waters, with a captain dithering at the helm and a wardroom in mutinous mood. Storms can be weathered if the captain can show the crew a course out, no matter how long and painful it may be. Currently however the charts are bare.
A tactical victory, defeat or failure counts for little if it is not incorporated into a wider overall strategy that can command the support of the public. Without that vision, inspiration or course Labour will be condemned to sink for possibly a decade or more.
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