It was, I’m afraid, with an air of inevitability that I read the paper this morning and discovered the Tories had won the by-election in Crewe and Nantwich. The swing to from Labour to Conservatives was 17.6%, and this in a seat held by Gwyneth Dunwoody since its creation in 1983.
We’ve not even reached the first year anniversary of Gordon Brown’s leadership, yet his authority, and future as Prime Minister, is repeatedly being questioned. Jack Straw has been cited as a possible “care-taker” Prime Minister, David Miliband as too young for now.
I can’t help but have a certain amount of sympathy for Mr. Brown – kept from the top job for so long, only to be made leader just as the global economic slowdown began, and a number of Labour’s policies implemented under Tony Blair began to falter. Furthermore, it can’t help that neither Mr. Blair, nor for that matter his wife, have not retreated from the spotlight.
However, opportunities exist for Mr. Brown to begin repairing his reputation this summer. The Olympics could yet provide a chance to show solidarity with human-rights advocates over Tibet, especially since he fudged the decision of how best to receive the Dalai Lama this week. Looking beyond the summer, a new American President may offer a breath of fresh air for Transatlantic relations, and fresh thinking on both Iraq and Afghanistan. That is of course assuming Brown still holds the keys to No. 10 come January 20th, when the new President is inaugurated.
No comments:
Post a Comment