BROWNED OFF: AS OTHERS SEE US

As I recently scanned the Spanish ‘Voto en Blanco’ blog I was curious to find that “Mr Gordon Brown” was one of its subjects. British voters have their own views of the man who was their premier till just a year ago. So I was interested to see how, ‘Ligur’, who penned this piece viewed him from afar.


In an article entitled “Large armchairs for great failures” ‘Ligur’described Gordon thus – “the ex English premier, has passed into history as a true disaster, with actions and omissions of the colour blind or an individual with crossed laterality. Consequences: slowness and stubbornness amongst others.

“He neither saw the crisis nor were his measures immediate, which caused a meltdown of English banking, which hastily passed into the hands of the State in frightening proportions. The State remains the owner of much of the English major banks, who were not purchased by nor have the participation of Spain’s Santander. In the first elections they gave him his settlement. He went correctly but politicians rarely assume their failures and they go home to hope that an editor will commission their memoirs.”

After dwelling on the future for the next 100 years being in Africa ‘Ligur’ goes on to address the IMF where Brown has been touted as a possible president causing much heated debate in the UK.

‘Ligur’ is of the view that the political class in general and especially in Brussels receive “the surreal and corrupt” because its politicians and senior officials are supported including placing “the surplus failed and burned out” in well-paid jobs at international level.

He continues: “Mr. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has spoken clearly about his predecessor stating “he is not the appropriate person to lead the IMF since he never admitted the UK had a debt problem”. Fortunately, for Mr Brown to receive that post, which reported has a salary of 270,000 pounds (350,000 Euros) a year, the British Government would have to nominate him which clearly the coalition has no intention of doing.

‘Ligur’ then addresses his fellow Spaniards: “It is not that the antics and intrigues of the House of Commons that waken me from this dream but it is the similarities… Because his (Brown’s) Spanish counterpart Zapatero has more or less the same merits.” He believes a retired Zapatero, who leaves office next March, could be bound for the World Bank. So, asks ‘Ligur’, if the opposition Partido Popular leader, Mariano Rajoy, replaces him after the 2012 elections will he back Zapatero’s appointment?

Brown and Zapatero are both failed premiers. Their respective socialist parties are more popular than they. Some might argue the IMF and World Bank deserves them. The question is, do we?

WILL BROWN BE TOAST?

The British General Election is upon us and unless the opinion polls have it very wrong these are Gordon Brown’s last days in government.

I like to draw a difference between the man and the politician but in the prime minister’s case I am not so sure they aren’t the same thing.

I could say I am sure he was nice to his mother and old ladies – but after last week’s encounter when he insulted a pensioner who was going to vote for him I’m not too sure.

There are myriad stories about how unpleasant he was as Chancellor, as a Cabinet colleague, as Tony Blair’s next door neighbour, how he always went missing when there was dirty work to be done – Westminster tittle tattle or fact? I suspect the latter.

When your sole plea to the voters is – you may not like me but I’m good at my job – well, it sounds very desperate, doesn’t it? Especially with the disaster zone of the British economy that
was created under your stewardship.

The problem for the Labour Party is it has known for 18 months or so that even with the economic crisis the voters were more likely to support the party if they dumped Brown.

As we know from the various failed plots they never had the guts to finish the job – so they left Brown a wounded, angry beast.

For those acts of cowardice alone I believe Labour’s MPs deserve to be cast in to political oblivion. Nothing has ensured a Cameron or Clegg victory more than their indecision.

I now head off to London to witness their slaughter. I may even see the obnoxious Lord Mandelson humbled! Hope springs eternal. See you next week.

IS ZAPATERO “UN CATETO?"

A “cateto” is a peasant, a country bumpkin. In a recent column the distinguished journalist Francisco Rubiales asks is Spain’s Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero “un cateto”?

What has prompted his question is the appearance of the Spanish premier, who currently is also the president of the EU, at the world financial forum in Davos.

Davos is a prestigious event and Rubiales tell us that Zapatero has in the past been asked six times to attend but has always said “no”. This time he said “yes” but belatedly meaning he had to be shoehorned in to one of the secondary debates.

I have heard it said that because Zapatero does not speak English he has left his foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos – who speaks the language well – to conduct the nation’s foreign affairs. Certainly at Davos Rubiales says that there were embarrassing interludes as the official translator had to interpret for the Spanish premier and then for the audience.

The inference is that Zapatero is an embarrassment to the Spanish nation by seemingly being so out of his league amidst the high and mighty of the political and financial world. In addition Rubiales argues that he has a low standing because of the abject failure of his financial policies in Spain and the dire state of the economy, unemployment and so on.

Of course as a Briton, albeit living in Spain, I bow to the view of Spaniards on whether they find Zapatero an embarrassment or not. True he is my premier also but I am used to British prime ministers speaking only English – but of course that is the key language of the UN and forums such as Davos.

So is Zapatero a “cateto”? Far be it from me to say. What I do believe is that whilst Britain’s premier, Gordon Brown, speaks English and struts the world stage, he has failed miserably to communicate with his own electorate – and it is they and not the delegates at Davos who will hand him or deny him the legitimacy of being elected Britain’s prime minister this year. A status he is yet to hold.

IT WASN’T ME GUV, HONEST

Before the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took the top job he had already established a reputation for always distancing himself from trouble.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer he and his minions had got the ploy of ensuring Gordon was not linked with any scandal or disaster down to a fine art.

Nothing has changed.

World economic crisis – nothing to do with Gordon – he was just in charge of Britain’s finances in the critical run-up to the fiscal melt down.

Murky dealings surrounding the repatriation of Lockerbie bomber al-Megrahi to Libya – nothing to do with Gordon – it was those stupid Scots.

Problem is Mr Brown is head of Labour’s Scottish mafia and he likes to spend time before the cameras eating sheep’s whatnots with Gadhafi in his desert tent.

Now we have the fiasco of the botched rescue of British journalist Stephen Farrell from his Taliban captors in Afghanistan.

When the news first broke there was Gordon praising the action and happy to let everyone know it was him that gave the orders.

Then the whole episode turns sour so the valiant leader back tracks and explains that it was Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth who issued the order and not him. He was merely consulted.

It wasn’t me guv, honest – is the bleating from 10 Downing Street. Sadly honest is a phrase that sits uncomfortably on Mr Brown’s shoulders.

If life and the week weren’t bad enough Mr Brown also had to endure a telephone conversation with President Obama. The President is nobody’s fool so whilst the Prime Minister might think he can hoodwink the British people Barack Obama gave it to him straight telling the dour Scot of his “disappointment” over the bomber’s release. Oh I bet he did!

Well at least President Obama got his “disappointment” off his chest.

The British people have to wait to the next general election to tell “honest” Gordon of their “disappointment”. But tell him they will!

Since I penned the above it has been revealed in the Daily Telegraph that the British SAS are training Libya’s Special Forces. This has caused wide-spread resentment and anger amongst the elite troops as it was Libya that supplied the IRA with weapons that killed and injured SAS personnel in Northern Ireland. Of course Gordon Brown knows nothing of that.

To make matters worse The Sunday Times has suggested that Britain reached a deal three years ago with Libya to drop any investigation or prosecution in to the death of PC Yvonne Fletcher. The London “Bobby” was killed whilst on duty outside the Libyan Embassy in 1984 by a shot fired from inside the building. Despite a police siege of the embassy nobody has ever stood trial. The reports suggest that Justice Secretary Jack Straw was the key figure in agreeing this deal tied to trade with the Libyans – the same Mr Straw who has his fingerprints all over the al-Megrahi release – but of course the Prime Minister would never have been consulted, would he?

And the beat goes on, and on, and on...

So it does! On Friday the British Government confirmed that police officers - including a senior officer from Northern Ireland - had been sent to Libya to train its own police. That's a senior officer from a force that bore the brunt of the IRA attacks - with arms and explosives sent from Libya. Needless to say the surviving victims and the families of those who perished are appalled. So am I - but not surprised.

BROWNED OFF OVER EUROPE

It must be a glummer Gordon Brown than usual that woke up in the flat above 10 Downing Street this morning. After the mauling he received in the local elections, the fiasco of his reshuffle, the booing from sections of the crowd in Normandy he now finds his party’s Euro vote has collapsed pushing Labour in to third place being the Tories and UKIP. I guess its good news though for Nokia as the British PM will no doubt hurl a couple more mobile phones around and they’ll need to be replaced.

I watched the election results come in on Spain’s TVE1 and Sky News. In Spain we polled on Sunday and by 22.00 around 80 per cent of the vote was in and we knew how the parties had fared.

Over on Sky News a depressed Adam Bolton was left reviewing the results from Spain, Poland, Italy and elsewhere in far-flung Europe. One constituency in England told him the result might not be known for six hours...even the rest would take a good while to crawl in. I bet Gordon Brown muttered “what’s the rush, what’s the rush!”

In Spain the centre right Partido Popular’s leader, Mariano Rajoy, and his party’s supporters were wearing large smiles. Hardly surprising as the party had chalked up its first National election victory since it lost power in 2004.

In the interim the PP has lost two Spanish General Elections and the last Euro poll so Sunday’s victory tasted very sweet indeed. However whilst prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will have been disappointed with second place the results were far better than a government battling with the full effects of the economic crisis could rightfully expect. Indeed how his socialist counterpart in London must envy him.

After Sunday’s poll the PP have 23 Euro MPs a loss of one over 2005. PSOE have 21 four less than last time out when they had a one seat advantage over the PP. The PP commanded 42.23 per cent of the vote (41.21 in 2005) and PSOE slumped to 38.51 compared with 43.48. So PSOE are firmly in second place but it not a disastrous result and with the general election not due to 2012 Zapatero will still be hopeful of a recovery. What would Gordon Brown give for 38.51 per cent of the vote? Don’t ask!

I WISH I WAS SPANISH

As Gordon Brown wakes up this morning in Downing Street he can be forgiven for wishing instead of being born a dour Scot he had come in to the world 1,000 miles south as a dark brooding Spaniard. He does both looks very well.

Both Britain and Spain are led by socialist governments and both have been battered by the economic crisis. True Spain hasn’t seen the collapse of its banking sector, indeed Banco Santander has ridden to the rescue of several British financial institutions, but it has seen record unemployment.

The marked difference is that whilst Gordon Brown has lagged badly in the opinion polls in the UK since well before the financial meltdown his counterpart in Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has stayed ahead of the game and it is only now that the opposition Partido Popular has nudged ahead.

I say nudged because according to the findings of an opinion poll published by El País on Sunday if a general election were held now the Partido Popular would triumph. Perhaps triumph is too strong a word –scrape home more like.

The PP has a 1.2 per cent lead over the governing PSOE. The poll by Metroscopia puts the PP on 40.8 per cent and the socialist government on 39.6. Within the margins of such things that’s neck and neck.

The results do show worrying signs for both the premier and leader of the opposition. Whilst 49 per cent do not approve of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s management of the country 60 per cent give the PP leader Mariano Rajoy the thumbs down for his handling of his party and his opposition post.

Indeed the PP has been riddled with division, is embroiled in scandal and yes it is led by Pappa Smurf. Given Rajoy’s poor standing with the public one has to ask - if the party had a more effective leader would it be faring better in the polls?

By the by of those questioned 81 per cent perceived the economic crisis as being bad or very bad – but only 19 per cent said the situation in their family was bad or very bad.

The June Euro elections could well cast the dye for both Brown and Rajoy.

NO CUDDLY TEDDY

I always read the Simon Heffer column in the Daily Telegraph. I rarely agree with his views but I like the way he tackles issues and states his beliefs in a forthright manner. No waffle there.

On Saturday, surprise, surprise, we were of like minds.

He cited the extraordinary decision of Prime Minister Gordon Brown to announce in his speech to a joint assembly of the US Senate and Congress that Ted Kennedy was being honoured with a knighthood.

As the conferring of this honour was not publically discussed in the UK ahead of the event I can only presume it was for US consumption and designed to grease Brown’s path to receiving a rousing cheer from America’s elected representatives.

Now Ted Kennedy is one of the three brothers that made such a mark on US Politics. Alongside JFK and Bobby he is the youngest and the least. Their father, Joseph, was a “bootlegger” then US Ambassador to the Court of St James in the years leading up to World War II and was no friend to Britain.

Ted was expelled from Harvard for cheating in his Spanish exam and later on the night of July 18, 1969, Kennedy drove off a bridge in Chappaquiddick Island after attending a party for women who’d helped in Bobby’s election campaign. In the car with him was Mary Jo Kopechne. I am sure you remember as well as I that Ted escaped and swam to safety, but Kopechne died in the car. Kennedy left the scene and did not call authorities until after Kopechne’s body was discovered the following day.

I accept that in the intervening years Ted Kennedy has distinguished himself in public service in the USA. I also felt sorry for him when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. However, as Simon Heffer rightly points out, Teddy was a staunch supporter of the Republican cause during the 1980s and 1990s during which period he welcomed IRA assassins to numerous St Patrick’s Day parades. So somebody explain to me, please, why Kennedy has been honoured for his contribution to US-British-Irish relations?

As the US has painfully learnt since 9-11 terrorism is no laughing matter especially when it strikes at the heart of one of your major cities. The honour for Teddy Kennedy on that citation is an insult not only to the victims of the IRA but to every one of us. We shouldn’t be surprised that Gordon Brown insults our intelligence but with two British soldiers gun-downed in cold blood this weekend, by the same IRA gang that Kennedy supported in the past, the Prime Minister owes us yet another apology.

OBAMA TARGETS GIBRALTAR

I was interested to read on the Panorama news website that President Obama and the US Government have Gibraltar in their sights as a potential location for money laundering because it is a tax haven.

Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has already signalled that he is seeking international support to crack down on tax havens. This issue is due to be discussed at the G20 meeting to be held in London in April.

Panorama reports: “Gibraltar is listed in the US list of ‘secrecy jurisdictions’ and in the OECD list of tax havens, so we are bound to be in the spotlight.

“In the OECD list Gibraltar does not escape too badly, although the State Department gives us a ‘secondary’ rating when it comes to money laundering vulnerability.

“The US has legislation which President Obama wants to push through Congress. Gibraltar is on the list.”

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development removed Gibraltar from its list of ‘uncooperative’ tax havens in 2002 after it promised greater openness in tax practices.

Gibraltar denies it is a tax haven, saying it complies with EU rules on regulation, transparency and exchange of information and that it will end its tax-free regime this year by introducing a 10 percent corporate tax rate. However, to date, that doesn’t seem to have impressed the US.

In a speech on Thursday to the Royal Commonwealth Society in London Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, said he welcomed Gordon Brown’s call for a global raising of regulatory standards for financial services and looked forward to participating in it.

However Caruana added: “But let us not use it as a means of getting people to believe that tax havens and offshore financial services centres are the cause of the global financial services crisis.

“Everybody knows where the cause is and it’s not in Jersey, it’s not in Guernsey, it’s not in the Isle of Man, it’s not in Switzerland, it’s not in Gibraltar.”

Indeed one wonders if the world’s political leaders are intent on putting the spotlight on the ‘tax havens’ in an effort to deflect attention from their own gross mismanagement of their economies, especially in the USA and Britain.