Friday, June 05, 2009











Is it the end?


Many cruel comparisons have been drawn between the way Gordon Brown operates and the manner in which dictators grab and retain control.

Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and Tito, I have heard Gordon Brown compared to them all (for dramatic or humorous effect, of course, in reality Brown is nothing like them) but in recent days I think Gordon Brown is beginning to resemble ( in more than just appearence) Rumanian president Nikolai Ceauşescu.

Wikipedia says this about the last days of that regime:

"By 1989, Ceauşescu was showing signs of complete denial of reality. While the country was going through extremely difficult times ... he was often shown on state TV entering stores filled with food supplies, visiting large food and arts festivals where people would serve him mouthwatering food while praising the "high living standard" achieved under his rule.

Some people, believing that Ceauşescu was not aware of what was going on in the country, attempted to hand him petitions and complaint letters during his many visits around the country. However, each time he got a letter, he would immediately pass it on to members of his security. According to rumours of the time, people attempting to hand letters directly to Ceauşescu risked adverse consequences, courtesy of the secret police."

Labour Veteran Barry Sherman was on the radio this morning complaining that, having yesterday called on Labour backbenchers to demand a secret ballot vote of confidence in the PM, his constituency committee were bombarded with phonecalls from No 10 Downing Street overnight urging them to take action to get rid of him.

The resigning cabinet members and anyone else who has dared to publicly criticise the PM have been subjected to vicious and repeated character assasinations and hostile media briefings, and then of course there was the secret 'McBride' smear unit until fairly recently.

Of course the Ceauşescu regime came to a sudden and decisive end:

"On December 21, the mass meeting, held in what is now Revolution Square, degenerated into chaos. The image of Ceauşescu's uncomprehending expression as the crowd began to boo him remains one of the defining moments of the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. "

Is it possible the dear Gordon is as out of touch and uncomprehending as Ceauşescu was in his final days? Or is it that his iron grip on the Labour Party has not weakened sufficiently and the party will fail in it's bid to unseat him, in which case there may be genuinely hideous retribution meted out to the revolutionaries and 'enemies of democracy' who have dared to show their insolence?

Either way, the Labour Government is headed for oblivion. Sooner or later the party will face the voters and as things stand today they may well be facing the kind of once in a generation wipe-out that could really change the political landscape. Gordon Brown might not just make history as the shortest serving Labour Prime Minister ever- he could be the last.

No comments: