An interesting debate

Ben Brogan's article and comments make for some interesting reading. It's headlined "Gordon Brown has voters in a trance - it's time for a wake-up call" and is profoundly depressing.

"We are being hypnotised. There is no other word to describe the mesmerising effect Big Brother Brown is having on the national consciousness. We have gone beyond disbelief at the outrageousness of his political lies, through pity for the miseries assailing those ashen jowls, and we are now emerging somewhere approaching grudging admiration for the sheer, bloody-minded resilience of the man.

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Some of what he said was absurd, monstrous. The idea that there was a shared view between the parties about defeating the Soviets, for example. This from a politician who stood for Parliament in 1983 alongside his friend and KGB "useful idiot" Michael Foot on a red manifesto that would have run up the white flag of unilateral disarmament. Yet from the Commons the Prime Minister emerged victorious, another step nearer his reinvention as the greatest political survivor of all times.


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Truth is, the British electorate is being hoodwinked by the Prime Minister. He and his gang of ruthless operatives will stop at nothing to save themselves from defeat. They will use every dirty trick in the book, and are already doing so, to knock Mr Cameron off his stride and sow doubts in the receptive minds of uncertain voters. Yet the Tories dare not say so, for to suggest as much would be to admit their own incompetence. To complain about those nasty Labour bullies, or their friends at the BBC, would be about as useful as observing on the religious affiliation of the Holy Father.

Part of their problem is their own disbelief: they cannot quite believe that Mr Brown is getting away with it. They are overwhelmed by the sheer gall of a Prime Minister who could say, in a speech yesterday, "with me, what you see is what you get", when the records show the precise opposite is true. They have read Andrew Rawnsley's forensic exposition of the hatreds and deceptions that mark the Prime Minister's career and cannot fathom why the rest of us cannot see the serial dishonesty, the political opportunism, the dangerous indecisiveness, the directionless moral compass, let alone his serial policy failures. How, they wonder, can we possibly be contemplating giving this guy another five years?

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Mr Brown's act of hypnosis is to make us ignore the facts about what will become of Britain should he be left in charge for much longer: economically relegated, permanently crippled with debt, addicted to public spending and big state interference, reliant on ever higher taxes and ruled by the trade unions.


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Mr Brown has also lured the Tories and their supporters into a circular debate about what their strategy should be, who is up or down in the circles of power around the leadership, and whether their policies stack up. Behind us lie 13 wasted years, yet we're considering whether a further five might not be better than the uncertainties attached to the Conservative offer. The arsonist is standing there with a tin of petrol and a packet of matches; the house is ablaze, and he's questioning the size of the fire brigade's hose.


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It's time to snap out of it. The Tories need to stop wondering in private about the unfairness of the media or the brutishness of Peter Mandelson. They need to come out and fight fire with fire, show the kind of ruthless killer instinct that comes naturally to Labour. But rather than match Mr Brown's dishonesty, they need only remind us every minute of every day why, when he tells us that "for better or for worse, with me: what you see is what you get", what we see is truly terrible, and far, far worse than any alternative."