The Presbyterian conscience: personality as politics

By Paul Halsall

I find a 15% Labour vote on a 30% turnout just unbelievable. It means only 1 in 20 of the electorate actually voted for the government. Personally I think the government’s economic and foreign policies are right. I am disturbed about civil liberties issues, but I don’t think the Tories would be any better. And the Tory excesses in the expenses scandal seem to have been as bad or worse than Labour’s. (I note that Cameron has hardly had a huge boost from these results.)

The overwhelming problem is Gordon Brown and his personality, which for all the talk about “policy” is indeed a political issue. It seems that the Prime Minster got off on the wrong foot by initiating election speculation in September 2007, and has never been able to get back in front foot since

I think Labour will do very badly in the next General Election, fairly or not, if Mr. Brown is still party leader. He just seems not to get it. One minor issue – why on earth does he keep going on about his “Presbyterian conscience”? Is it better than a Catholic, Jewish, or Humanist conscience?

Brown’s effective second in command, Lord Mandelson, was a marvel to behold on the Andrew Marr show. But that just left the impression that he, rather than the Prime Minister, now holds all the cards. I doubt Mandelson would get the votes of 1 in a hundred.