The theory that the transition to a Gordon Brown led administration will lead to a fresh start for the New Labour Government is palpably false. Parallels are being drawn with John Major's succession to the premiership in 1990 when the Conservatives, purportedly effecting a "regime change" by disposing of Mrs Thatcher, avoided defeat by Labour at the General Election in 1992.
Gordon Brown entered Parliament in 1983 becoming Labour's Shadow Chancellor in 1992. He was one of Tony Blair's original "conspirators", playing an integral part in the creation of New Labour. He has been the Chancellor of the Exchequer since 1997 and thus has held one of the two most powerful posts in HM Government for nine long years. As a senior member of the Cabinet he is jointly responsible for every major policy decision involving every part of Government (after all, he is the paymaster.) Thus, along with Mr Blair and the other members of the Cabinet, he is implicated in every failing of the Government. He cannot escape the stench of sleaze or fug of Government incompetence even though he might not be responsible personally. Distancing himself from Mr Blair (and of course the rest of the Cabinet) just does not wash. The implicit "not me guv" stance is not only deceitful and disloyal; arguably it is cowardly.
By contrast, John Major was a nonentity in Mrs Thatcher's first administration. He had not played any part in formulating the principles of the Thatcherite Revolution. He entered Parliament in 1979 and did not enter the Cabinet of the Conservative Government until 5th June 1987[1]. In consequence he was not so sullied by Mrs Thatcher's or her creed’s, perceived failings. The public were entitled to give Mr Major the benefit of the doubt, but not so Mr Brown.
It is forgotten also that New Labour achieved their electoral success by stealing the Conservatives' clothes (so as not to scare the horses) and presenting themselves as more honest, down-to-earth and united than the "sleazy", “division ridden”[2] Conservative Government. Gordon Brown is an unreconstructed socialist. It is by his deeds, not his words, that we know him. He craves Big Government. He is driven to tax hard and spend big. Middle
In truth, Mr Brown is an accomplice without whom the Blair Project could never have come to be. When Mr Blair's collar comes to be felt, whether that be by his erstwhile Parliamentary Labour Party colleagues or the electorate, it is only right and just that Mr Brown stands alongside him, in the dock. Whilst his “Brownite” colleagues will fall over themselves to provide an alibi for their new leader we, the electorate, will not fall for it. You will have to pack your toothbrush, Gordon Brown, because when the time comes, you are going down.
[1] As Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Mr Major had been appointed as Assistant Whip in January 1983 and continued in that capacity until the summer of 1985 when he became the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Social Security under Norman Fowler. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in October 1989.
[2] The divisions in the Conservative Party concerned the European Community or European Union as it is now known. It is becoming an accepted “faction” that the electorate “booted out” the Conservatives because they had mismanaged the economy as well, but by 1997 the economy had enjoyed seven years of growth without wage- or price- inflation difficulties.