Opinion - Editorials   

Political folly and correction

Saying ‘mea culpa’ does not come easily to politicians. It took some courage for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to admit in front of hundreds of television cameras that he took “final responsibility” for the political tamasha over his government’s botched plans for a snap election in November 2007. Following weeks of intense speculation, stoked by his Ministers and close advisers and his own sudden visit to Iraq where he announced troop c uts, Mr. Brown broke his silence and ruled out an early election — after a slew of opinion polls and private polling by the Labour Party indicated a dramatic slump in its lead over the Conservatives. For the first time since Mr. Brown moved into Downing Street in June, the Tories were ahead of Labour in the opinion polls — actually by up to six percentage points after announcing populist measures designed to appeal to floating middle-class voters. This meant Labour would struggle to retain its slim 60-odd majority in the House of Commons. The worst scenario was a hung Parliament. Mr. Brown of course insisted that the negative polls had no bearing on his decision. Labour, he claimed, would have won “whether we had it [an election] today, next week or weeks later.” He had decided against an early election only because he wanted to concentrate on implementing his “vision” for the country. Aside from inviting ridicule from opponents and flak from political commentators, he was blamed within his party for damaging Labour’s political stock.

The pressure on the Prime Minister was piled even higher when Chancellor Alistair Darling published the government’s pre-budget report, a half-year update on spending plans and the economic state of the country. Plans to raise the threshold for inheritance tax prompted accusations that the Labour government had ‘stolen’ ideas from the Conservative Party while economists accused the government of failing to be realistic about the spending cuts that would be necessary, given the downturn in the economy. The government has cut its growth forecasts for the economy in the wake of the global credit crunch, but some fear they are underestimating the impact it will have, so that they can continue to justify high levels of government spending. 10 Downing evidently expects these populist measures, independent of their authorship, to help neutralise the swing against Labour and put it back in the driving seat. The next British general election is not due till 2009-2010. Mr. Brown now has abundant time to focus on his vision, whatever that turns out to be. What his big misstep spotlighted, aside from his own fallibility and overcautiousness, was the changeability of the popular mood in Britain and the fragility of party leads in the polls.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Political folly and correction
Correcting imbalances
‘Incredible India’ right here at home
Waiting for Benazir Bhutto
The resistance in Iraq and Western claims
The story of India but will India buy it?
Corrections and clarifications
Sonia’s remark
Values in politics
On ragging
Unfortunate

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu