It’s Been A Right Sunny Week For Labour

Unless you’ve been on another planet or, in another country, you can’t fail to been aware that Labour were having their annual conference this past week. I follow UK politics quite closely and these conferences are all stage-managed circuses, totally devoid of anybody with any character or anybody with anything worthwhile to say, and before you think I’m biased, this usually applies to all three main political parties.

Of course, this was Gordon Brown’s big week, the week when he would resurrect himself. He’d come out of the bunker fighting. He’d tell the people of all the great things he was going to do for them – if only they’d give him another five years in which to do it, but despite all the hype and no doubt the meticulous preparation, it did not start well, with Andrew Marr asking the Prime Minister on Sunday if he was popping pills to keep going. The usual sickly smile told us that when he said he was not taking pills, he probably was. Was he telling the truth ? Well he opened his mouth to answer the question and we’ve all come to recognize that he rarely opens his mouth without lying!

Moving to Bournemouth for the conference, his big speech came on Tuesday and despite the fact that he spouted the usual list of Labour’s achievements (most of which stretch the facts to breaking point), I actually thought he gave a more impassioned speech than he has for many a day, but unfortunately, it was all to end in tears. That night, the UK’s biggest selling newspaper, (The Sun), moved its allegiance to the Conservatives and the following morning all the papers were carrying the ‘Sun story, with nothing much about his speech.

Apparently, Brown and his henchmen were furious, not necessarily because the Sun had switched sides but because of the timing of the announcement. His fury prevailed until the following morning when Brown was ‘signed-up’ for a series of interviews, during which he wasn’t asked about the policy announcements in his speech - probably because none of them will ever happen – but about the Sun’s defection. He clearly became irritated, walking off set at one stage and forgetting to take his mike off but the funniest moment was captured by Guido’s blog. See the clip at the URL below and watch for Kate Burley’s reaction when the editor returns the picture to the studio.

http://order-order.com/2009/09/30/psycho-gordon/