It's not like it were in my day....

Generali

Just a thought.....

I can recall 3 Prime Ministers being defeated and so effectively being forced out of power either by losing a election or by being so incredibly unpopular that their own party commits 'regicide'*.

Callaghan: presided over the Winter of Discontent, his Chancellor had to go to the IMF while Wilson was PM, unions ran the country. Weak and incompetant.

Thatcher: Probably always hated by the majority of voters. Broken by the Poll Tax.

Major: Could do nothing right despite seeming to me to be a decent man (Currie-gate not withstanding). Was mocked by the newspapers and TV at every turn. Despised as weak and petit bourgois (frozen cheese etc).

Now Brown. Is he really despised in the same way? I mean truly hated by the populace. I don't think he is, or that's what I see from a distance. Qualitatively I don't think there is the same depth of feeling against Brown as there was against the other three and as a result I think Brown has a good chance of victory given the advantage an incumbent has and the electoral (current) bias in favour of Labour.

I'd be interested to know the thoughts of those closer to the action.










*I know it's not really regicide but it's a great word

markharding557

I think all prime ministers eventually become unpopular and loose one way or another.
unfortunately for gordon brown he took over a government which was already in decline

Cleaver

Generali wrote: »

Callaghan: presided over the Winter of Discontent, his Chancellor had to go to the IMF while Wilson was PM, unions ran the country. Weak and incompetant.

Thatcher: Probably always hated by the majority of voters. Broken by the Poll Tax.

Major: Could do nothing right despite seeming to me to be a decent man (Currie-gate not withstanding). Was mocked by the newspapers and TV at every turn. Despised as weak and petit bourgois (frozen cheese etc).

Now Brown. Is he really despised in the same way? I mean truly hated by the populace. I don't think he is, or that's what I see from a distance.

I wasn't around for Callaghan and was only 9 when Maggie left office, so probably not the best person to comment on the past. But with regard to Brown, I'm not sure if he's hated by the population because of the way politics is nowadays. In my opinion the PR machines and the spin, spin, spin nature of political parties means that people don't really know a lot of what's going on, as no one really wants them to know. At least with Maggie she had policies that you either loved or hated. It's hard to hate any modern politician really - it's like hating Channel 5. It's just there. It's hard to hate something that's just there.

I think people are bored to death with modern politics and have lost faith in pretty much everyone. When you're not inspired in any way, shape or form by any of the main political parties (which seems to be the case for a lot of people from what I can see) it's pretty hard to muster up the effort to hate any of them. If there were three of four strong parties, who just said what they would do, stopped trying to please everyone, got rid of their PR people and were set up so that the public could see clear differences between each of them I think you would find people start to 'love' and 'hate' (might not be the right word) political parties and figures again. Until that happens most people will just look at all politicians as a grey, uniform, robotic blob of nothingness that talks in the same riddles.

Lastly, I think this is maybe one reason why the BNP get votes. I don't think that all of their supporters are rampant racists, I think that some people find the straight talk of the party refreshing compared to the unfathamable, distant waffle of the main political parties. This isn't me saying that it's a good thing to vote BNP by the way, I just think that it is a reason they appear to be slightly more popular over the past few years.

lemonjelly

I don't think that Brown is actually hated either.

I actually think that there are those who have some sympathy for him...

My perception is that people hate politicians in general, especially the main parties. After all, so few of them can claim to be whiter than white after the expenses malarky. In addition, Browns detractors who have triend to bring him down have hardly shown themselves to be fine upstanding honourable people have they? (I'm looking at you here Hoon & Hewitt!)

Personally, I hope the vast majority of overclaiming MP's get something of a roasting at voting time. From a pure politics point of view, lots of independents would make things interesting.

Whether that happens or not, we'll have to wait & see.

lostinrates

When Brown came in despite feeling it was ll a bit shoddily done, despite not being a labour voter, I was pleased.
He is a guy who had more gravitas and less slime than he who had gone before. One felt he wanted to be in the role because he thought he could do it well not because it was the top job in the country.

To an extent I still feel this. I do not like Gordon Brown but I can't hate him as much as Blair. However I feel a lot stinks. I feel someone who felt the need to surround himself worth someone like Mandelson is less likable. But he dosn't chase the cameras, his flirts with media and pop culture seem...very forced and unnatural, giving the sense of someone trying to do what his predecessor did in order to maintain that appeal. Would I vote for him? absolutely not. Not unless all the others grew winged and oinked, but do I hate him? No, ....I don't think I do. He hasn't proved me right on the more gravitas, not really, but I think he has made the role more serious again.

If I had a bit more...intelligence, or rather ability to keep to the subject in hand without going back to bed for a nap, and a little more gravitas I'd probably like to stand as an independent, LJ. The thing is, in one respect I believe the labour supporters have been right, we needed the ability to make decisions quickly through the crisis...a gaggle of Independents, and PR would both have slowed this down.

SingleSue

My children are very anti labour and especially anti Brown...and according to eldest, a lot of his peers feel the same way which does not bode well for Labour bearing in mind eldest will be of an age to vote in less than 18 months.

nearlynew

Politicians are like nappies - they should be changed regularly.


........ and for the same reason.

Really2

nearlynew wrote: »

Politicians are like nappies - they should be changed regularly.


........ and for the same reason.

Whats the difference between a politician and a tampon?
Nothing, they are both stuck up.........................
(dud dum tsch)

Cleaver

nearlynew wrote: »

Politicians are like nappies - they should be changed regularly.


........ and for the same reason.

Was it you nearly that said a while back that we should each just have an independent people in each area that stand for their local people? I really liked that idea.

robin_banks

SingleSue wrote: »

My children are very anti labour and especially anti Brown...and according to eldest, a lot of his peers feel the same way which does not bode well for Labour bearing in mind eldest will be of an age to vote in less than 18 months.

I think at that age they are often anti whoever is in power.

robin_banks

lemonjelly wrote: »

I don't think that Brown is actually hated either.

I actually think that there are those who have some sympathy for him...

My perception is that people hate politicians in general, especially the main parties. After all, so few of them can claim to be whiter than white after the expenses malarky. In addition, Browns detractors who have triend to bring him down have hardly shown themselves to be fine upstanding honourable people have they? (I'm looking at you here Hoon & Hewitt!)

Personally, I hope the vast majority of overclaiming MP's get something of a roasting at voting time. From a pure politics point of view, lots of independents would make things interesting.

Whether that happens or not, we'll have to wait & see.

Some of the media attacks on him have been completely out of order and this has backfired on those that launched these attacks.