When Gordon Brown was placed into power as Prime Minister, without the electorate having any say in the matter, he claimed he represented a new and more honourable regime.
He suggested that the days of spin were over and that we could expect his government to run the country in a more honest way. Now it seems clear that either he was not entirely truthful or that he has failed to control those he manages and works with.
Perhaps he had unreasonable expectations. Maybe the Prime Minister is a helpless pawn in the hands of his party or the civil service. If that is the case then there is something seriously wrong in the way government works in this country. If it isn’t the case then we must hold him responsible and accountable for actions done by this government and by those working on his behalf.
Damian McBride has been described as Gordon Brown’s closest political advisor and he has now resigned over a false smear campaign planned to spread false and vicious rumours of a personal nature in an attempt to attack the opposition. He resigned? Surely this is a sacking offence that should require full disciplinary measures be taken against him and questions should be asked about the legality of using government premises and computers to spread false and spiteful rumours.
There is something seriously wrong in government if a paid employee of the people even thinks for a moment that this sort of behaviour is even slightly acceptable. For anyone who is a public servant and a personal assistant to any Prime Minister, whoever that might be and from whatever party they represent, to think that their job description includes such behavior shows there is something seriously wrong with the way the government and the civil service work.
Gordon Brown as head of this government and ultimately in charge of the civil service should apologise to the British electorate for the fact that this could happen while he was in charge. He should apologise for the fact that this man was his own personal advisor and yet he didn’t know this was going on and he should apologise for the fact that a civil servant rather than serving the people was attempting to corrupt politics and interfere with the electoral process by spreading false information about certain members of the opposition.
It is a despicable act and the Prime Minister should accept personal responsibility and he should make clear that his moral compass tells him this is completely and utterly unacceptable and he will do everything in his power to ensure such things cannot happen again.
If such behaviour is not already illegal then it should be. He should take steps to intoduce an act of parliament that would make very clear that this sort of thing must not happen and attempt to prevent such a thing ever happening again.
The only problem with that is that nobody will believe him. People have so little faith in politicians these days and we can have even less faith in the government run by Gordon Brown.
For a man who claimed to listen to the people, he shows little sign of taking any notice of what they think. No doubt he will carry on as normal and attempt to ignore this furore over his political adviser and the defamatory emails and continue in his attempts to preserve the banks and the finance industry.
As Chancellor Of The Exchequer he was managing the economy while it slid into the abyss caused by greed and selfishness by the financial sector he was so keen to support. Now, as Prime Minister, he is managing the country as we slide into a political morass of MPs and ministers who are claiming expenses for porn films and pergolas for houses they rarely see and his own senior political advisor thinks it’s OK to spread false and malicious rumours.
It is like a ship with nobody at the wheel. Out of control and with no idea of the direction we are headed. Nobody knows what the future holds and least of all the Captain. The moral compass seems to be giving no guidance whatsoever and it is unlikely that there would be anyone left to steer the ship since they are all too busy finding new expenses they can claim for.
I hesitate to say that democracy is dead because it isn’t. I can sit here and write this and be critical of those in power. We do have free speech, though our emails will be stored and examined by whoever the government deems necessary. Poetic justice isn’t it? That the subject of emails from No 10 should enter the public domain so soon after a law came into force requiring that all out emails should be stored and made available.
Democracy is a fragile thing that is easily damaged.
The drip, drip, drip of excessive laws, invasions of privacy and corruption of politics have already severely damaged it If those in power are not prepared to stand up and shout from the rooftops that they will not only reject these damaging actions but will actively act to protect democracy, civil liberties and justice then we have lost everything that so many fought and died for over so many years.
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