Gordon Brown is now using up the future of his own party

It has become very clear that the current government no longer functions. In part because the New Labour rouse has been found out. The most damaging fact that is mentioned about the government again and again in interviews on TV and radio is - you've been in power for 10 years ( well its about 11 now isn't it - but somehow 10 years is a key milestone ).

That contains the message - there are now no excuses, at least not ones that anyone is going to believe.

The longer Labour hangs on to the trappings of power - the worse their fall will be. Their party is dying on its feet. The lesson of John Major's last few years is that prolonging the inevitable doesn't help your party at all - its much more about those who know that defeat will be the end of their political careers.

Personally I think Blair had Brown have done tremendous damage to our country, in almost too many areas to mention. But the one that is hitting home is the economy. Just look at the pathetic responses that the Sunday Telegraph reports Brown is planning ( as ever plans, reviews, proposal - never details and commitments ):

Among the measures that ministers will unveil over the next few weeks are:
• A big expansion of shared-equity deals in a move to attract more first-time buyers back to the struggling housing market. The range of organisations that can "share" mortgages with homeowners, currently restricted to the Government, housing associations and estate agents, will be expanded to include other businesses. This is expected to give the market a big cash injection. [ But the problem is not really cash - that's just the short term symptom - its the fact that asset process are too high fuelled by unreasonably cheap and over supplied in recent years (=Gordon Brown changing BoE traget Inflation to CPI from RPI for political reasons). That is the fault of the current government - boom to bust - and specifically Gordon Brown. These measures will just make the problem worse and enslave people in greater debt].
  
• More Government weight to be thrown behind drives by competition authorities, such as the Office of Fair Trading, to ensure that supermarkets and other outlets price items competitively. [ = smoke screen and also an attempt to shift the blame ].
  
• A stepping up by the Government, along with its international partners, of pressure on the Opec oil-exporting countries to increase production, forcing down fuel prices. A Whitehall source said: "Our hands are tied a bit here – if we cut petrol taxes there is no guarantee the savings would be passed on to the motorist." [How exactly could the government exert pressure ??? The whole point is that its a sellers market. This is just dishonest, especially when combined with the very real damage Gordon Brown has done to our own domestic oil industry with his unstable tax regime].
  
• More Government-backed support for those getting into debt, particularly people facing having their homes repossessed. People in this situation will get more direct advice on how, for example, to draw up repayment schedules before their cases reach court. [ But government is getting people into debt !! Through PFI, the massive debts of Northern Crock, pawning out London Hospitals to provide cash for the Barnett formula subsidies for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Do you think doubling council tax in real terms in England helps poor people in debt ?? ].

They are beyond saving. Luke Akehurst's generally thoughtful Labour blog was bemoaning the lack of triangulation as the reason for Ken's loss. But I think Labour has a deeper problem - as an organisation it is pathologically dysfunctional and dying. See my comment below:

As an organisation you have a deeper problem. You have a leader whom you allowed to bully his way into office, even when the senior people who knew him to be unsuitable and fully understood his character flaws and the likely consequences.

Your organisation is very close to insolvency (if anyone in the NEC knows its insolvent and allows it to continue then they are most likely committing a criminal offence - no wonder you can't find a gen-sec) and has no signs of recovery.

In common with the other major parties - policy is no longer made with reference to ideological, philosophical or even strategic strategic considerations. But rather is cooked up by a secretive group around the leader. Party members (of all 3 main parties) wake up in the morning to discover what their party believes - today. This is determined by the process of media manipulation, narratives (yours for this week is listening and learning) and the triangulation you propose.

In short your party is broken and can no longer function as a political party, but only a leaders supporters club with an over draft.

Add to that the hollowing out of your party in local government and its membership and you might conclude that the most urgent need for the Labour party is to take a break from government (what are you really achieving anyway?) and sort yourself out. Then you can present the public with a thought through manifesto and perhaps be in power again.

Why use the next two years just to dig a deeper hole and destroy your party ? Call a general election now and the next Labour government (which actually knows what it wants to do and how to do it) will be 2 years closer.

The underlying point is that the current Labour government is finished. Its only continues to twitch because the political career and salaries of many of those who hang on to it depend on this government. They have no real interest in their party or the future - just holding on for 2 more years.

Gordon Brown - having loaded the economy up with over a trillion pounds of personal debt, wasted over a further trillion in government and now mortgaged out our hospitals and public buildings is now finally cannibalising his own party's future for his personal ego. The next Labour government (not that I would ever wish there to be another ) could be two years earlier if he called a general election now. Tactically it would be clever (cynical?) of Labour to do and the Conservatives would inherit the current mess and get much of the blame.

But Gordon Brown is happy to use up the future of his own party just as he has loaded the UK up with debt, destroying our pensions and creating a client public sector that is unaffordable - solely for the pay roll votes it creates. He is just interested in the few lines to be written about him is history books, and he is willing to use up all our futures to get them.