Sunday, May 13, 2007

Gordon Brown: Fit for Office?

Peter Oborne has an hour long documentary on Gordon Brown on Monday night at 8pm on Channel 4. He wrote rather a gushing article yesterday in the Mail about Brown, which doesn't really square with what the Mail on Sunday says about the programme today. It's not on their website, but it tells of bulling, blazing rows and intimidation - Frank Field, John Hutton and Treasury civil servant Sir Nicholas Montague among the victims. Better set the video...

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you had said 'Peter Riddell' it may have been quite interesting. But Peter Obore ? Oh, please spare us..

Anonymous said...

"but it tells of bulling"

Bulling? I seem to remember that's an expression used by livestock farmers. I'm sure that's not what you really mean - or is it!

Should make for a fascinating programme....

Anonymous said...

According to comments on PB.com today Dacre likes Brown - can this really be true?
The same contributor also states that the previous Lord Rothermere, who appointed Dacre to succeed David English was a Labour peer - again can this really be true?

Anonymous said...

Oborne said he was quite impressed by Brown's leadeship launch. Presumeably this was after he'd made the documentary.

Anyway, Oborne did make the point that he hoped, but didn't expect, Brown would continue in the same vein. He (Oborne) still expects Brown to fail. And he's right of course.

Tom said...

haha, any bully of Frank Field gets my vote.

Chris Paul said...

Strangely enough I agree with El Tom. Field is a bit of a bully himself and it always raises a cheer when the bullied stands up to such like. Hutton - who cares if he gets a bit of a monstering. The other chap? Am I bovvered about him?

Tittle tattle.

Anonymous said...

Dacre does like Brown and though I don't think Rothermere was a Labour peer he and particularly Sir David English were seduced by the Blairite stardust.

Anonymous said...

Is there nothing sacred ! The paper the Labour party loves to hate -The Daily Mail actually supports Gordon Brown ? Has anyone told it's readers ? True, there have been some very "Brownite" supporting editorials recently but I thought they just hated Blair's guts and would support anyone over him. Hang on a minute ! Come to think of it.....it does explain why they keep rubbishing Cameron as insubstantial and lacking any policies!

Anonymous said...

I don't know about its editorials, but the Mail remains ultra pro-Conservative in terms of its front pages.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, perhaps all those luvvies who currently attack the Mail as evil incarnate will have to find another target. Jeremy Hardy will never be the same again.

Anonymous said...

Paul Dacre is supposed to be impressed by Brown's work ethos. However, Dacre was deeply impressed by David Blunkett's tough stand on crime and look how the paper turned on Blunkett over nannygate.
The "Mail's" readers remain strongly anti-Brown; out of 63 comments left by readers last week on a story about Brown, only one was pro-him.
On "The Sun's" comments page about 80 per cent were anti-Brown.
It will be interesting to see how far MSM editors can continue to cosy up to Brown when the bulk of their readers loathe him.

Anonymous said...

If only Brown were like Saddam and took the troublemakers outside the Cabinet Room and shot them.....then he wouldn't have to suffer like Blair did with a surly, obstinate, obstructionist fellow Scotsman

Anonymous said...

gordon brown will fail miserably despite the best efforts of the MSM.

he offers nothing but more of the same - he has been instrumental in the most corrupt, snide and illeberal government of recent times and now he has nobody to oppose him he will be able to run riot. lets remember that labour policies are unpopular with everyone and only the spin and lies of the great actor bliar have kept it on track. without him they ONLY have Gordons rubbish policies to rely on.......goodnight

Unsworth said...

All of the Dacres have been deeply suspect. The previous generation was just as ghastly - my antecedents also had run-ins with them.

As to Brown - at first sight I thought your headline read "Gordon Brown: Fit for Orifice".

But then again...

Anonymous said...

Oborne is supposed to be a conservative, but he's quite happy to praise Brown ("He can be a truly great PM") to please his master Paul Dacre. He is on a par with Amanda Platell who writes anti-Cameron copy to order in the Mail on Saturday.
I urge people to do as I have done; stop buying the Mail until they start supporting the Conservative Party.

Colin D said...

I am just completing "Peter Obourn's" Book. "The rise of Political Lying". The book is not short of the informative, structured and well researched Chronicle that Epitomises Peter's work. whether this be in print or a TV documentary.
I'm really looking forward to his latest venture.
Thanks for the reminder Iain.

Anonymous said...

Whoever did the schedule for Monday night on Channel 4 has a sense of humour. The programme just before the Dispatches' Profile of Gordon Brown is "3 Minute Wonder: I Am What I Spend."
The programme just after is entitled: "Mind Your F***ing Language" - they probably anticipated my comments during the Brown profile.

Anonymous said...

Rory Bremner's already got the queer new facial tic - the gulping mouth and receding jaw - off to perfection.

Anonymous said...

"Come to think of it.....it does explain why they keep rubbishing Cameron as insubstantial and lacking any policies! "

or it could be that Cameron is insubstantial and lacks policies.

Ted said...

As the contributor quoted above regarding Rothermere's move to Labour - fom the Independent obituary ".. Rothermere became still less predictable. ...he decided to sit on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. This surprised those who assumed that his politics were the same as those of his arch- conservative newspapers, but this had never been so. "

Anonymous said...

I've always viewed Broon as a bully, it goes hand in hand with all of the other odd stuff he's afflicted with.

Those brutally bitten finger nails make me heave. Broon eats himself away until his fingers are raw and bleeding - horrible, bloodied stumps. Yuk. Basically, he's self harming. Wouldn't mind betting that's not the only way Broon self harms either. It's the legacy of his austere, Presbie pa I imagine.

"Cane me harder, Sarah"

Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

Auntie Flo'

Ned said...

In Short...good stuff but we already knew most & using Actors voices for those scared Labour MPs is a very sad indictment on the Labour Party.

David Lindsay said...

Tories have carried on buying the ultra-Blairite Times for a decade without even noticing that it was no longer a Tory paper. They carry on voting for the Cameroon Party in much the same way. So the Mail has nothing to worry about.

Anonymous said...

Hi, does anyone know where I can watch this online?