Gordon Brown

The watchers of Westminster seem to have decided to oust Gordon Brown. Bryan has been calling for this for a while now, and his projection (out by June 1st) still doesn't look too bad. Polly Tonybee also jumped on the bandwagon a while ago, so it's my turn to do so.

We were willing to forgive Brown early in his premiership for not having been personally elected because we listened to him talk in the lead-up to Blair's departure and decided that, yes, were there to be a general election, he'd probably get our vote anyway. But since then a number of things have gone wrong.

In an increasingly televisual age, appearing comfortable within yourself is key to inspiring respect. Authority and leadership derive principally from respect. I'm not talking so much of instances like the "we've saved the world" incident, but I'm talking along broader, and more serious lines. The 10 pence tax boundary was a royal mess, the recent expenses fiasco is another royal mess, and these eras of malcontent remind us that, in fact, we never voted for him anyway. In turn, this reminds us of how Blair said he would stay on until the next general election, which he didn't.

Once faced with the "Great Recession" we rightly look to partition blame and Gordon Brown must be held, at least in part, accountable. He relied too heavily on Friedman economics, deregulated privatization, and a lack of public investment, which hit the NHS and the armed forces hard during times of need.

Further, his cabinet is weak; Milliband's handling of the situation in the Middle East is insulting, and Hazel Blears and Jacqui Smith have proven time and again that they are not people who should be in positions of power.

Brown comes across quite badly during Prime Minister's Questions, and his public persona appears contrived and artificial; his glossy smile is repulsive and his deflective chuckling fools no one but himself. He looks tired, dejected, passively frustrated. As Chancellor he had time away from public scrutiny where he was able to dictate policy from behind the scenes, and project an image of himself from behind the scenes. The premiership offers no such comfort.

The debacles of recent months have shown him to be indecisive, which is compounded by his media personality, especially in relation to his counterpart, David Cameron: equal on political nous but with bags of charisma.

I'm certain Brown is a very intelligent man, and in the right setting he would be positively charismatic (he comes across very well on the radio, for example), but in today's culture of political scrutiny, indecisiveness will not be tolerated, and rightly so.

Our life and times are different from former generations'. The power and influence of Britain should be celebrated and put to use responsibly and appropriately, but, most importantly, at the right time. Brown, it is now clear, is not the individual to do this.