Perhaps it should be expected that the usual suspects criticize and make fun of Gordon Brown, but I detect that he is being left exposed in a way that the New Labour Spin machine never allowed in relation to Tony Blair.  The explanation might be that Mr Blair was all style and no substance so it was easy to create a slick media image against which nothing unpleasant could stick, initially.  Mr Brown does stand for certain things and so you have to take him for what he is.  As such, a make-over will just not work and some criticism will find its mark.  To that extent, he is vulnerable in a way that Mr Blair was not.  I suspect that certain New Labour heavyweights are  aware of this and are prepared to brief against Mr Brown, albeit quietly at first.  Even those outside the party who until now have been natural allies of New Labour are voicing some disquiet about his qualities.  Should Tony Blair leave No.10 soon, I have no doubt that its new occupant will be Mr Brown.  If, as is being counselled, it is to be next year, Mr Brown might find his dreams shattered.

You should really read the whole article published by Alice Miles in The Times today, but this little snippet interested me: -

“Incidentally, while I was researching this I came across this fact: that the median level of full-time earnings in the public sector (£476 a week in April 2005) is £64 higher than in the private sector (£412 a week), and the gap is widening. That is an extra £3,328 a year, along with generous pensions. I didn’t know that. Bear it in mind when you hear the moans of public-sector workers next week over their pay rises.”

At least we now know that the money Gordon Brown has ram-raided from the middle classes, particularly from their private pensions, is being well spent.

I see that the predominantly New Labour press has been seeking to divert attention from New Labour’s funding shenanigans by pointing to similar fund raising devices by the Conservative Party. This tactic will not work because a little thought reminds us quickly of the real reason for the furore. Gongs appear to be being sold for cash, by “we’ll clean up the sleaze/whiter-than-white” New Labour.  This is not the point of my post, however.   The holier-than-thou Liberal Democrats, in the guise of Lord Oakeshott of Seagrave Bay, their Treasury spokesman, have now stepped into the fray in their usual opportunistic manner. I did not anticipate having to refer to this so soon, but for the record let us remind ourselves of this.