19 Comments

• Simon 23rd Sep '08 - 3:53pm

  It was a very typical Brown speech.

  Poor in terms of substance. Predictable in terms of delivery.

  Lots of tractor figures. Low on any real detail.

  Lots of lists and empty promises.

  Business as usual then.

• Liberal Neil 23rd Sep '08 - 3:57pm

  I tried to watch but was constantly distracted by that goldfish like thing he does with his mouth.

• Elaine 23rd Sep '08 - 4:25pm

  It was his phony looking smile that put me off first. I ventured back for the last half hour and I thought his speech was okay (the standing ovations in the middle of it seemed a bit contrived though). He made some good points, particularly about Cameron and the Tories but to congratulate his Govt on the way they handled Northern Rock was astonishing. I liked some of his proposals but I wouldn’t trust New Labour to deliver on them.

• Simon 23rd Sep '08 - 4:27pm

  I tried to listen to it all – but I cannot recall any attempt to engage with the threat that the LibDems will pose (particularly in northern seats)

  That is an omission that should be exploited. If you don’t engage, you will always lose the debate

• Neal 23rd Sep '08 - 4:32pm

  I think on a lot of issues he has missed the point.

  Take his decision to stop cancer patients having to pay prescription charges. You don’t hear cancer patients complaining about having to pay £6-something for their prescription. You hear them complaining because their PCT will not provide them with a drug and they have to fork out thousands to buy it privately. Brown did nothing to remove the postcode lottery!

• Peter1919 23rd Sep '08 - 4:46pm

  I tried to watch the speach but got bored and distracted after less than half of it

• Mark Wright 23rd Sep '08 - 4:56pm

  It could have been any of his speeches in the past. The several standing ovations in the middle were a bit Soviet I thought…

• asquith 23rd Sep '08 - 5:42pm

  My favourite part of The Gulag Archipelago was when the director of the paper factory couldn’t take any more of the compulsory ovation for Stalin, & had to sit down, then was promptly sent to a gulag.

  I always think about it when I see these stage-managed ovations 🙂

• johninpenarth 23rd Sep '08 - 7:48pm

  it WAS all a bit soviet, wasn’t it? Even down to the dodgy logo!

• Oranjepan 23rd Sep '08 - 7:56pm

  I saw the lips move, but no sound came out.

• Sesenco 23rd Sep '08 - 10:22pm

  I have a terrible nagging fear.

  The possible alternatives to Brown will be worse.

  All plausible replacements are more pro-American, just as anti-freedom, and equally ruthless.

  Can anyone imagine David Miliband not licking Cheney’s boots?

  Just be thankful that Brown still harbours a hint of sentimental attachment to old Labour values. That is all that stops him acting as Cheney’s glove puppet as Blair did.

  And, of course, that is why Cheney and his media allies have made Brown so unpopular with the electorate.

• Darrell 23rd Sep '08 - 11:03pm

  Err I didnt think it was bad…he’s obviously not a natural orator and to be blunt it often shows…he can’t shake that bank manager image and I remember thinking several times throughout it that Labour would have been better advised to have left him as at No.11….

  Basically he pushed a good few Labour buttons so they will be pleased….wasnt much amazingly new though….

• Neal 23rd Sep '08 - 11:44pm

  But Darrell it’s his performance in No11 which is why we are in this mess: not giving BoE effective independence, selling off gold below market value, making credit too easy to get…

  His performance as PM has actually been better than his performance as Chancellor when you have the facts in front of you.

• Darrell 23rd Sep '08 - 11:49pm

  Neal,

  I wasnt making a policy point…if you put my remarks in context then you can see that im more making a point about the role that he is stylistically better suited too….and like it or not that matters….

• Neal 23rd Sep '08 - 11:52pm

  Well, for me, there’s just something in my head that automatically removes the so-called Blair effect, so Blair, Cameron, Brown – they all seem the same to me.

• Atomboy 24th Sep '08 - 12:04am

  Time to start counting the days until the election.

  Time to look out for Gordon Brown asking, “Would you like extra fries with that?”

  Time to start planning for the New Labour obliteration night party!

• Lena 24th Sep '08 - 2:57am

  Neal, this seems to be the case in many countries right now. The fun fact about voter cynicism is it tends to mean voters will swap sides with little to no reason for doing so. Voters will often vote incumbents out of power purely out of spite even if there has been no particular scandal or issue to trigger such a move. Sometimes, the opposition can not capitalise on such dissatisfaction and if Cameron’s future campaign fizzles out (which looks increasingly likely) then people may look to the libdems as an alternative.

• John Thomson 24th Sep '08 - 12:12pm

  I thought Brown’s speech was well crafted for its audience and may therefore have bought him a bit of time. It was surprisingly well delivered, compared to his performance on other occasions. As a “button pushing” exercise it was quite good and I think I dtected the hand of Alastair Campbell at several points.

  OK the promises were a bit vague and there was nothing about where the money was coming from or even if any new money would be involved. Don’t forget Brown has pulled the trick before of announcing a new initiative then having to reveal that the money will be old money recycled.

  Good jabs at the Tories and, from his perspective, absolutely right to ignore the Liberal Democrats. However LibDem responses will have to be quite sharp if the “fairness” agenda is not to be appropriated by Brown and New Labour.

• lyn 26th Sep '08 - 1:54pm

  I thought it was good and I quite like the fact that unlike previous “leaders” he is not too comfortable in front of the cameras. I don’t know why people find it so hard to believe that there are GLOBAL economic problems out there.