Rewriting history BBC style

On the surface Radio 4's 'The Brown Years' is an attack on Labour's record in government under Gordon Brown but if you pay attention its purpose is somewhat clearer. It is an attempt to lay the blame for all of the last labour government's errors on to the back of one man - Gordon Brown, thus clearing the main Labour leadership contenders of any responsibility for the mess left behind by that labour government.

However the story that emerges for me is that the senior Labour members of Gordon Brown's cabinet failed to hold Gordon Brown to account. Ed Balls, Gordon Brown's trusted ally and probably the man best placed to say 'no' to Gordon Brown allowed his mentor to decide that apeasing the Daily Mail was one of the the Government’s chief policies. It is the same in the Labour leadership campaign, David, Ed & Ed lining up to contradict the assurances they gave whilst Gordon Brown was Prime Minister that he was the best man for the job and that the stories about his anger issues and lack of consultation were just not true.

You can listen to 'The Brown Years' on the BBC's iPlayer. However I have a question, why are there two versions, one 28 minutes long and one 45 minutes long? That is a lot of editing...