Cabinet backs Brown after Blair memo
Three cabinet ministers threw their weight behind the embattled prime minister yesterday in an attempt to defuse the speculation surrounding his leadership.
Chancellor Alistair Darling, deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman and Skills Secretary John Denham all endorsed Gordon Brown, insisting he is the right man for the job.
Denham said Brown had the skills necessary to take the country forward in tough times, and that a summer of speculation about the leadership would be damaging to the Labour Party. “We knew what Gordon’s strengths were when people like me nominated him and supported him, and it was his profound understanding of what this country needs,” he said.
“Anything that gets in the way of all of us as a team putting that message across effectively is a distraction from what needs to be done, and is in danger of letting David Cameron win by default,” he added.
Harman echoed Denham’s words, saying that Brown is the “right person for the job”. Darling praised the prime minister’s “determination and strong purpose”.
But Brown suffered another blow yesterday with the publication of a memo in which Tony Blair heaps scorn on his successor’s performance in office.
The memo, which was written by Blair to colleagues last year, before being leaked at the weekend, sees the former prime minister accuse Brown’s government of “a lamentable confusion of tactics and strategy” and of failing to learn lessons.
Written in the aftermath of Brown’s decision not call an early election in the autumn, the dispatch says poor decision-making has made Conservative leader David Cameron look substantial and a viable choice for office.
“The real problem was not the brilliance of the Tory conference, but the hubris and vacuity of our own. This meant the Tories, by having something to say on policy, appeared substantial and to represent the future,” Blair wrote.