Can Brown cope ? Or has the Peter principle struck again ?
Many years ago Man in a Shed played football for his house 1st XI ( there weren't that many of us so it was a great honour, but not achievement ).
I played left back as I used to be very fit and could charge around making life miserable for the opposition. I did well enough to be tried out as centre back, but them it all fell apart. I was used to my position on the left ( don't read anything into that ) and finding the right field position just wasn't my gift. I'd been over promoted and was soon back as a left back.
Based on the First Post's Mole's report the same is becoming apparent for Gordon Brown. Although of course he can't go back to the Treasury. He has been promoted to the level of his incompetance.
This should have been prevented by the political system, but Labour and specifically Tony Blair put their own political interests before those of the country. Let me explain:
- 1) He should never, I repeat never, have been left in the Treasury for 10 years. Any half decent senior executive development programme moves people about in the company. Browns only government experience has been as puppet master in the Treasury. This was a monumental mistake - made due to Blair's failure to stand up to Brown and also his failure to develop the talent beneath him.
2) He should never have become default leader of the Labour party. Someone like John Reid should have given him a run for his money. He would have been forced to do more thinking and get his vision straight before getting into office. Perhaps even some of his now obvious short comings would have been apparent and Labour could have chosen a better leader.
3) The Labour party has failed to have the internal strength to realise that Gordon Brown is not leader material. He's a great, in brooding first officer but just doesn't understand the subtleties of command. ( In fairness the Conservative party has shown weakness in this area also in past years.)
I feel sorry for Gordon Brown. He is really out of his depth and drowning. My advice to him is to accept reality - resign and spend some good quality time wit his young family. I took a step back from my career in Engineering when it became obvious I needed to travel less and see more of my family. Its not a decision I regret and I had a number of colleagues come up to me and say they wished they had done the same thing at that point in their families lives.
The Labour party should take a long hard look at how people achieve political office. It has shown paper commitment to democracy but it can't deliver effectiveness.
