Some of you may have noticed a change in the demeanour of our Prime Minister. Although he’s not quite started entertaining at childrens’ parties under the alter-ego Gordo the Clown – he’s still as dour as a Nairn’s oatcake – he has started to look more comfortable in himself.
He now has a purpose; a tangible situation at which he can throw himself. He has a reason for those masochistic 20-hour days. The global financial crisis has been a blessing for Brown.
Now he has the opportunity to call upon all his finance experience and City acumen. As chancellor for a decade, Brown presided over a period of almost unprecedented growth, with low interest rates and controllable inflation. It was the new jazz age in London. Many, many people got obscenely rich, facilitated by a Brown led, risk-fuelled system of lending. Many more people had their pension’s dissolved or lost. More still borrowed beyond their means.
That was the boom and – let’s be clear here – it was a boom during which Brown was at the helm. His actions led to a wild, risky and ultimately rotten financial system. Not that any of us were complaining at the time.
Now comes bust, and the prime minister is leaning on his ‘experience’ to steer us through. The problem is, Brown has no experience whatsoever of presiding over bust. In that sense, he’s as qualified to run the economy as I am to chair the City University Quantum Mechanics Club.
