Gordon Brown - Liar, fool or knave?

In September 2007 at the Labour Party Conference Gordon Brown made his now infamous promise:

"This is our vision: Britain leading the global economy . . . drawing on the talents of all to create British jobs for British workers."

Let's see how that's gone shall we:

Work permits issued to workers from outside the EU:
2007 - 129,700
2008 - 151,635
That's up by 21,935

Number of workers in UK jobs born outside of the UK:
2007 - 3,548,000
2008 - 3,723,000
That's up by 175,000

Number of workers in UK jobs born in the UK:
2007 - 25,771,000
2008 - 25,725,000
That's down by 46,000


The fact is that Gordon Brown made a promise he couldn't deliver on (yes just like "ending boom and bust"). He did it to show his British credentials and to boost his popularity ahead of a general election (the one he chickened out of). The truth of the matter is that whilst we are in the EU we cannot stop anyone resident in another EU country from coming and working in the UK. I cannot believe that Gordon Brown didn't know that was the case; so either Gordon Brown knew the truth but thought he might get away with another Brownie or he really didn't know, in which case he's even less well informed than I thought and not fit to be Prime Minister.