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The Queen's Speech today is one of the oddest on record: a play upstaged by its prologue.
Last week, the Chancellor delivered the most remarkable and far-reaching pre-Budget report on record.
Politicians, economists and historians will debate it for years - to say nothing of the rest of us who will be counting the cost, even if it goes to plan.
Her Majesty cannot hope to match up - the first and last time she will be outshone by Alistair Darling.
No one expects much heavy legislative lifting anyway. Gordon Brown has made clear that he views the economy as his trump card and doesn't intend to roll out one of those fiddly Blair-memorial speeches, promising to transform life as we know it.
I also believe that Mr Brown is still considering the prospect of an election before 2010. Nothing he has said in the past few weeks has ruled this out (he merely says it is tactless to talk about it, which is a different question). So the intention is to clear the decks and focus on defining issues of his premiership, in order to keep his options open.
Welfare and the intention to prod single parents to work underline his claim to be a tough but fair improver of social and economic conditions for the worst off. Lower-middle earners are to be protected from too much discomfort in the downturn, while the more prosperous foot the bill.
This is the latter day Brownite creed, shorn of its niceties: and he now sees no need to conceal or water it down. "Be yourself," friends have urged Mr Brown and for better or worse, this time, he will be.
But the Government also contends with a mood which is deflating its hopes of a "recession bounce". It suffers from a lasting attack of unlikeability. The shock of this recognition has hit ministers hard in the wake of the pre-Budget report they thought would establish their leadership in a crisis. The mood afterwards has been more suspicious than grateful.
A BBC Question Time audience in Basildon, a key Tory target seat, brought this point home last week. The ferocity of the audience's attack on Douglas Alexander, the minister representing the Government, was unrelenting. It reminded me of being on the same platform with Michael Portillo, on the eve of the 1997 election. Whatever defence of the Conservative Government he mounted, the reaction was to bay for blood. Mr Portillo retired that evening mute and shaking his head - and wisely decided that a career in the media might be less aggravating
Exhibit two: Jacqui Smith, inserted into the Home Office after the bull-in-a-china-shop years of Messrs Blunkett and Reid, to take the aggressive edge off the clashes on security and crime.
Ms Smith fully denies that she knew about the arrest of the Tory frontbencher Damian Green and the ransacking of his offices in advance.
So far, no evidence has emerged to contradict her. Any minister who did get involved would have to be extremely short-sighted about the consequences.
Yet the widely-held belief has been that the Government must be involved in some skulduggery. Ms Smith was vaunted by Labour last year as one of its "normal" minsters we would grow to like. Now her expression of exhausted shock betrays the realisation that she is roundly distrusted, and cannot quite work out what she did to deserve it.
This generalised tension goes some way towards explaining the schizoid nature of Mr Brown's poll ratings. He has periods when his stock rallies and he commands the TV screens as the Man Who Can (at a price) guide the UK through its grimmest situation in decades.
That alone won't see him back to No 10 though. "It is improbably hard to win a fourth term," says one senior insider. "You have to offer some very special combination of luck and talents to do it."
To which I would add: people have to be broadly content to have you around for another four years. Mr Brown has stopped the Conservative advance and shown that David Cameron has not yet really clinched anything like a certain majority - extraordinary, after the long Tory exile from power.
What he has not done is to turn the prospect of another Labour Government into something we might positively want to vote for. His own standing and persona will be crucial here: people feel they "know" a Clinton, or Blair, or Obama, when, of course, they don't - and might not like them if they did.
Mr Brown feels hard to know, and whatever his trusties say about his private amiability, that is one key reason people feel unsure about another stint of him in charge.
His strategists' plan is to make Labour less contentious in areas outside the main economic fray. "I'm not sure he can be liked," says one senior backbencher and ally, "but we could try to ensure we aren't hated for unnecessary reasons."
So out goes the communication data bill today - which would have guaranteed the authorities the right to monitor private communications: a dead parrot, like 42 days' detention. I asked one experienced Home Office insider what had gone wrong: "No political mileage in it," was the short response.
Mr Brown, unlike Mr Blair, has a limited appetite for arguments about national security. He is no civil libertarian himself, but he is aware that these arguments cause more bad feeling than can ever be compensated for in terms of the elusive "security bonus".
Also, he intends to keep his powder dry for a bitter internal row with the unions on welfare reform. Implacability is an asset here. It can easily go wrong if interpreted as vindictiveness. Peter Lilley discovered as much when his "little list" of single mums on housing lists deepened the impression that the Tories were all head and little heart.
Now we have a generation's experience to prove that leaving poor single parents to rot in poverty, without the structure of a working life, has been a social disaster. But the new measures come late and contend with a downturn in the labour market, New Labour having omitted to get on with it when conditions were propitious. It will take up more of the Government's time and political capital than it may yet fully know.
Most ministers will tell you that it is easy to be liked: and the tricky part is implementing what you want. The reality is often more punishing. A politician of certain intent, departmental experience, a lot of drive and a bit of guile can get things done.
It is still being seen as an asset at the end of it all that is the hard part. Mr Brown is in the process of discovering just how difficult that really is.
Reader views (22)
I can't believe that an unelected like Broon is wrecking the economy.Nu labour's power base in Scotland is disintegrating. Just make sure we never allow a labour government in Britain again. SNP are making inroads into the labour vote here. It's vital that the English nation votes Tory this time. We can work something out in the future.
- David Kane, Shotts, Scotland, 02/01/2009 10:48
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He might publicly deny it-but Gordon Brown wakes up every single day wondering whether he can pull a rabbit out of an election hat.
What he knows more than anything is that most people dont' wake up very morning hoping for an election--but that when one comes they will reflect and vote for a change. When it comes-he is going to lose-for absolute certainty
- William Grierson, kIMPTON-uk, 05/12/2008 09:36
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All he has to do is deliver the goods, that is, a stable economy and confidence back in Britain. And he seems to be making a good job of it. Keeping people in their jobs and houses in these difficult times. Gordons the man to see us through.
- Dhanraj, Basildon Essex, 05/12/2008 08:30
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No, I think people are simply fed up with everything Labour stands for, whoever is "leader." Labour Britain is a shambles.
- Pinkie, London, England, 04/12/2008 21:07
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It's not just Brown who's gruesome and revolting. It's Straw, Harperson, Jackboot Jacqui, Nobody's Darling, Balls,Yvette Balls..not to mention the sinister Mandelson,Jowly Jowells, Beckett...and virtually all the rest of the Labour liars, hypocrites and wreckers. Virtually the only one two who have any merit are Frank Field and the member for Vauxhall Kate Hoey. They call Westminster 'the village'. I call it the village of the damned.
- Judith C, London, UK, 04/12/2008 20:25
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It doesn't really matter whether or not a prospective PM is likeable or not, although it does help. In relation to Mr G Brown, he should not be allowed to stand for any office. As the unelected CEO of Britain he in a very short space of time has single handed ruined this country and taken the Great out of Britain. No commercial sector company would have retained this smoke and mirrors merchant at the helm of its organisation.
- Adrian, paris, france, 04/12/2008 17:04
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We're all Browned off but who is going to save us - I think not the Tories. St Vincent the LibDem perhaps could - he has seemed pretty perceptive so far.
- John, Leighton Buzzard, Beds, 04/12/2008 16:37
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No Gordon does not need to be likeable to win the next election just competant.
Dont slam the door on your way out Gordy ...
- Drowning Not Waving, UK, 04/12/2008 16:00
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Unelected and unelectable.Arrogant and bullying.Incapable of relating to the electorate.Insincere and selfseeking.One would be accused of lack of imagination if one created such a shallow character in a book as G Brown.
- P.Doff, filey uk, 04/12/2008 15:11
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Labour? WIN THE NEXT ELECTION??
*RAOFLMAO!*
- Roz, Chamonix, France, 04/12/2008 12:31
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Well, he is so off-putting appalling and unsympathetic that his only hope is to buy votes with handouts. If he was dependent on people liking him, he'd probably only get a single vote - his wife's.
- Delphine, Oxford, 04/12/2008 10:33
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Golden Gordon,sold off gold at rock bottom prices against advice.
Pensions Gordon,wrecked the best final salary pension scheme in the world with his tax grabbing.
Prudent Gordon,reinvented the meaning of the word profligate with his irresponsible spending on keeping nulab in power.
Crash Gordon,is now seeing the pigeons coming home to roost after his 10 years as chancellor.
World Gordon,is now leading all the world in sorting out the credit crunch,but suprise suprise,no blame attaches to him for the UK mess he has created,its all America,s fault.
Parliamentary Gordon,can,t even commit to protecting parliament against police raids under very doubtful circumstances.
Prime Minister Gordon,an unelected control freak who frankly could,nt run the proverbial in a brewery.
Finally,the sooner we get this bunch of stalinists out of office,we might start to repair the damage this lot have done to this country,my family and I used to be ardent labour supporters and have canvassed for them,not any more there are now 15 people who will never ever vote labour again.
- Roy C, Wigan, 03/12/2008 21:31
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So...we have about another 18 months of "rule" under labour with the unelected PM at the helm of a rapidly sinking labour "ship"......its getting closer and closer to the time we can sink them....ideally without trace, unfortunatkley they have already left their hideous mark on this country.
- Charles, London, 03/12/2008 20:57
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thank god I dont live in England
- Richard, Limoges France, 03/12/2008 18:57
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What, no mention of more tinkering with anti-terrorism legislation, or the Criminal Justice system. Or will these be in the 'Fine Print' and be, like previous simialr legislation 'shoe-horned' in through back door under obscure clauses in somewhat inocuous legislation. It behooves the Tory and LibDem oppostion to minutely go through ANY legislation with a fine toothcomb!
- Uncle Vanya, Chelmsford England, 03/12/2008 17:03
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Of course we could accept a prime minister who was not popular, who had unpopular policies, if the policies worked. Brown has failed even with his greatest boast that in his hands the economy was safe. So many people seem to forget that he had already borrowed more money than we will ever pay back BEFORE the credit crunch. His policies had already failed, even with his stealth tax, even with his soak the rich(read middle class) he still ran out of money.
The reason we will not elect him is because he has proved to be absolutely useless in the job and has tried to implement his dozy rebel student marxist ideology on a population that doesn't want it. Go now....please
- Ronnie, Brantome France, 03/12/2008 16:36
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With Crash Gordon there will never be an election until the end of his term because he knows he will be OUT!
- Martin O, London, 03/12/2008 15:38
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It's funny how silent Gordon Brown has become over this Damian Green affair, is it because he has pleaded the Fifth Amendment and doesn't want to incriminate himself?
- Jeremiah, London, 03/12/2008 15:14
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A Prime Minister doesn't need to be popular, he or she needs to be good at his job. And Gordon Brown is NOT. He neither represents his party nor the British people. He is a old socialist disguised as a New Labour person and with a sinister liking for control. I wish the British people were more proactive and demonstarted like the Thai people have done in their country against their govt. leaders, for his removal. If we are going to change our history, then let's have a completely new style of government, whereby each executive minister is individually elected by the people because of their ability and experience. Then never again will we have an deeply disliked and distrusted man take control of a country claiming "it's the party the people elected, not the PM".
- Sweatsocks, London, 03/12/2008 13:48
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No way could Brown/Darling ever eclipse the Queen. What will be Brown's legacy? Complete economic collapse. He's so desperate for something historic he's even consideribng taking us into the Euro he once despised.
- Brucknerfan, Liverpool, 03/12/2008 13:45
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What has "like" got to do with it. No one outside of Broadmore could like Brown or Smith or Balls or Cooper or Lord Brown Envelope or Campbell( god bless you David Kelly)or any of this corrupt rabble. They could have,however, respected them. But respect is given and earned, this rabble have not earned any , ever, and so let them fester in their corruption,I can't wait to vote them out
- Brian Hunwicks, Banus,Spain and glad to be a Conservative, 03/12/2008 13:22
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Anne,
The economy is collapsing and his first budget report in 1997 will haunt him to defeat.
- Get Shorty, Bognor, 03/12/2008 13:18
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