Goodbye Gordon?

(c) didbygraham

Could this really be it? After just under two years as leader could Gordon Brown, the man who wanted the job so much, be about to suffer the ultimate political assassination?

I hope not…

Gordon Brown at least has a (if fairly tenuous) mandate to run this country, thanks to the widely held assumption at the last General Election that Blair would leave part of the way through it and that Brown would succeed him. This meant that when voters went to the polls, they had at least some idea that they would at some stage end up with Brown as leader and were therefore able to vote accordingly. Any new leader would not even have this and would just become another symbol of our tragically failing democracy.

Instead the Prime Minister should deliver on his promise of “a government of all the talents” and look outside of his ideologically spent party. Imagine for a second if instead of appointing his closest supporter, Ed Balls, to the treasury, he appointed Lib Dem treasury spoksman Vince Cable, one of the only politicians to predict the economic crisis before it hit. This inclusion of politicians from other parties would act as a blood transfusion for the wounded government, bringing fresh ideas and more important restoring some of the lost legitimacy.

This new government should have a clear purpose and a clear time limit, lasting no more than a year. It should set about repairing and reforming our broken electoral system and preparing for a referendum on the implementation of Proportional Representation and resign as soon as it is complete.

By doing this the government would be increasing rather than decreasing democratic accountability. To have a General Election when there are no clear policy choices (mostly because the Conservative haven’t announced what they would do) would only further disenfranchise the already alienated electorate. Instead, involving all parties in the process of electoral reform may finally see a serious debate about improving our system and an end to the ridiculous process of redrawing boundaries by governments to directly harm the chances of their opponents.

Gordon Brown is serious, thoughtful and patient (and surprisingly, in real life quite funny) man and there is no doubt the media have treated him badly. He is a man of high aspirations motivated by (mostly) the right reasons and for things to end like this would be a tragedy. Instead he has one chance, not to retain power, but to salvage some dignity from his time as Prime Minister and perhaps to be remembered as the reformer he yearns to be.

Simply: the choice is his.