Talk:Premiership of Gordon Brown/Archive 1

Ministry of All the Talents
It is very bizzare to have "government of all the talents" redircting here as this is an old term in British politics that does not just apply to Brown's premiership, and is in fact hardly ever used to refer to the latter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.150.15 (talk) 16:37, 8 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I've changed that to Ministry of All the Talents which in nomenclature is the closest thing really. Timrollpickering (talk) 11:39, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

There should be some kind of mention of the so-called 'Brown Bounce' and the fact that he has has a ten point lead over David Cameron in the polls.


 * And also, I suppose, a mention of David Cameron's current 24-point lead in the polls. So much for the 'Brown Bounce', eh? ADROITfr1 (talk) 00:19, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Updates needed
This article is in serious need of updating since it only covers events in 2007. Some events we should include here are; This list is by no means complete so there are probably other events which need inclusion. All of the above is actually quite negative, but we have attempt to be neutral. There must also be some positive elements of Brown's premiership. Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
 * The election that never was in Autumn 2007
 * Northern Rock and other banking crises
 * Smeargate
 * Brown's unpopularity
 * Return of Peter Mandelson
 * Gurkhas controversy
 * 2009 local and European elections disaster - Labour at its most unpopular since 1918.
 * MP resignations and the revolt that fizzled out in May/June 2009

Also, I've removed some stuff about Brown presiding over the victory of the BNP in the Euro elections as it didn't seem appropriate in its present form and was badly worded anyway. What we would have to do here is include mention of the BNP in the wider context of the European elections. The main point here is that Labour came fifth in some parts of the country, and third overall behind the Tories and UKIP.

Anyway, I'm proposing to update this in the next few days. I'll probably use information in the Gordon Brown article as a basis and add a few more things. But I'll leave it for a while just to see if anybody else has any comments.

Finally on the subject of the proposed merger from Blair-Brown government, I think most of the information in that article relates to Blair's premiership and so it is probably there that we should be merging the relevant information. Thanks TheRetroGuy (talk) 22:20, 11 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Now updated, but will probably need further editing. TheRetroGuy (talk) 15:13, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Merge suggestion
Shouldnt we merge this article with the one on the Titanic? 92.235.178.44 (talk) 18:03, 25 August 2009 (UTC)


 * No we shouldn't. TheRetroGuy (talk) 18:32, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Megrahi release
Depending on how events develop over the coming days, there's probably a good case for starting a section on the Megrahi release. Brown has been criticised for his silence on the subject and there's speculation regarding the involvement of the UK Government in the Scottish Government's decision to release him. TheRetroGuy (talk) 18:49, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Banking crisis & susbsequent recession
Surely this is the most significant thing to happen under Brown and his response in terms of propping up the banks and measures to try and improve the economic situation should be included?91.125.200.186 (talk) 21:08, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Agreed. This is a sort of work in progress so feel free to add any information you can. At some point we'll probably need to rationalise the information that's in this article. TheRetroGuy (talk) 22:25, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Just been Googling, etc, and have found lots of details on this subject. I'll probably write something tomorrow or Wednesday. Cheers TheRetroGuy (talk) 22:47, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * ok, have now put together individual sections on the banking crisis and the recession and fiscal stimulus. I've compiled these using existing articles as a starting point as I don't profess to be an expert on this subject, so I would be grateful if someone else could read through it and make any necessary adjustments. Thanks TheRetroGuy (talk) 15:42, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Visit to Afghanistan
Not sure yet, but I'm thinking that Brown's appearance at the Chilcott Inquiry, his visit to Afghanistan and the controversy that is causing might be worth mentioning. Depends on how much of a controversy it becomes I suppose. TheRetroGuy (talk) 15:29, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Is that what we are looking for controversy ? Off2riorob (talk) 15:35, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Not controversy, but notable events in Brown's premiership. Perhaps what I should have said was it depends on how much coverage it gets, i.e., whether it's just over this weekend or whether it goes on to become important in the forthcoming election campaign. TheRetroGuy (talk) 15:58, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Notable events that have a value to the long term memory, I would say that his appearance at chillcot was worth a line, but the fact that he went to visit the troops is not notable, he has been multiple times and neither is the fact that a general said he wanted more money (show me a general the would not want more guns and more tanks and more soldiers) and the the opposition party said he only went because he is a loser, or whatever it was they denigraded him for, you could add, the oppositions parties degraded him about anything they could and if they couldn't find something to exaggerate then they made it up. Off2riorob (talk) 16:21, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I'll put in a paragraph about Chilcott, summing up what was said. I think I read somewhere that he was the first serving prime minister to be called before such an inquiry, so I might add that if I can find something to back it up. Also, I'm not sure whether it was the right place to ask, but I've put in a request at WP:UK Politics for some editor assistance with this article. Parts of it need reviewing and it would be useful to have someone else give it the once over. Cheers TheRetroGuy (talk) 16:31, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Why not nominate is for good article status and wait for the report and then work on any issues. I found that is a good guideline as what needs work and I would say the premiership of someone in Britain is a worthwhile article to raise up a standard. Yes a small comment about chillcot and the main points of that are clearly a notable occurrence. I wanted to ask you if we could change the picture to give some difference to the BLP and this article as I found that very confusing, have we got any more pics? I will go and have a look. Off2riorob (talk) 18:11, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Perhaps if we changed this article pic to this one at least that would give some differentiation between the two article, let me know if there are objections. Off2riorob (talk) 18:18, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Seems a good idea to me. A different picture for this article would make sense. I'm afraid I just copied everything over from the Gordon Brown infobox (picture and all). Thanks for the GA suggestion. I'll give it a go. TheRetroGuy (talk) 18:34, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Cool, if you do that and whenever your ready I am busy but I would give whatever help I could. Off2riorob (talk) 18:40, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks. That would be great. Just nominated it so will wait for feedback. TheRetroGuy (talk) 20:53, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

=Information removed from the article=

Smeargate
On 11 April 2009 it was reported by the Daily Telegraph that Brown's special adviser Damian McBride had sent a series of emails to former Labour Party official Derek Draper discussing plans to set up a blog which would be used to post rumours they had made up about the private lives of senior members of the Conservative Party and their spouses. The emails, which had been sent from the Downing Street Press Office, were acquired by Paul Staines, author of the right-wing Guido Fawkes blog who brought them to the attention of the media. Mr McBride resigned later the same day, and 10 Downing Street issued an apology for the "juvenile and inappropriate" emails. Gordon Brown later sent personal letters to those who had been mentioned in the emails, expressing his regret over the incident, but Conservative politicians called for him to make a public apology. Brown finally apologised five days later while on a visit to Glasgow, saying that he was sorry about what had happened. , and then for a second time during the first Prime Minister's Questions following the Parliamentary Easter recess after being challenged to do so by Tory MP Nadine Dorries.

In his first interview on the subject of the email scandal in July 2009, Damian McBride revealed that when he told Brown what he had done, the Prime Minister was so angry that he could not speak. Mr Brown had also felt "incredibly let down". He also insisted that his job as special adviser to the prime minister had not involved smearing people and that emailed slurs were not characteristic of the way the prime minister ran his government.

YouTube video
In 2009 Brown came under some criticism for his so-called 'YouTube fightback' video, in which he explained his plans to reform MPs' salaries, while smiling randomly and seemingly inexplicably throughout the video. Brown's smile has widely been mocked, even by John Prescott, the Labour ex-Deputy Prime Minister. Brown was also fiercely criticised by one of his cabinet ministers, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears who, in May 2009 wrote an article for The Observer in which she criticised the government for losing touch with voters. The article attracted particular attention for the quote "YouTube if you want to. But it is no substitute for knocking on doors or setting up a stall in the town centre.", a reference to a speech made by Margaret Thatcher during the early days of her premiership, and which was seen as an attack on Gordon Brown. Blears later denied that it was a personal attack against the prime minister.

Expenses claims
In May 2009, two months before the official disclosure of full MPs expenses claims, the Daily Telegraph newspaper obtained a full copy of all expenses claims. The Telegraph began to publish the expenses of certain MPs in daily instalments from 8 May 2009. These revelations included allegations that Gordon Brown had paid his brother in excess of £6,000 for cleaning services and claimed for the same plumbing repair bill twice. Downing Street responded by saying that Brown paid his brother, who in turn paid the cleaner as the cleaner worked for them both but preferred to be paid by a single person for National Insurance reasons. The cleaner was hired by the Prime Minister's sister-in-law to clean his brother's flat, but then expanded her duties to include cleaning the Prime Minister's London flat. Meanwhile, the Commons Fees Office stated that the double payment for a repair bill was a mistake on their part and that Brown had repaid it in full. Revelations regarding expenses abuse led to the resignation of the Speaker Michael Martin and several members of Brown's cabinet. Further expenses details were published in December 2009, revealing that Mr Brown had claimed £500 for the repainting of a "summer house" in his garden, although Downing Street said he had paid the money back.

2009 Party Conference
The 2009 Labour Party Conference was held in Brighton from 27 September to 1 October 2009, with Brown giving his keynote address on the afternoon of Tuesday 29 September. In his speech he said that Labour was "not done yet", and he was generally well received by the party delegates. Shortly afterwards, however, Britain's biggest selling newspaper, The Sun announced that it would withdraw its support for the Labour Party and gave its backing to the Conservatives, thus ending 12 years of support for Labour from the paper.

Letters controversy
Guardsman Jamie Janes from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed as a result of an explosion that happened whilst on a foot patrol near to Nad e-Ali district centre in Afghanistan's central Helmand province on Monday 5 October 2009. Mr Brown subsequently wrote his mother, Jacqui Janes a handwritten letter of condolence, something he does for relatives of all British soldiers who have been killed in action during his time as prime minister. Mrs Janes later described the letter as a "hastily scrawled insult". In November 2009 Mrs Janes criticised the prime minister for apparently misspelling her son's name as "James" and other errors in his letter. Mr Brown was said to have been “mortified” when told of Mrs Janes’s distress and arranged to telephone her and apologise. During their conversation Mrs Janes claimed that her son had died because troops lacked equipment, notably helicopters. A transcript of the 13-minute phone call was printed in The Sun. Mr Brown later publicly apologised during his monthly press conference, saying that he understood the grief and pain that Jacqui Janes and other bereaved families were going through and that the last thing on his mind was to cause any offence. He also said he had ordered an inquiry into Guardsman Janes's death. Mrs Janes accepted this apology, saying the prime minister had looked "humbled" and "sincere", though he had not sounded apologetic during their phone conversation. The Sun newspaper was later criticised by other media organisations and members of the public for the way it had treated the prime minister, who has poor eyesight.

The subject of letters of condolence to the relatives of British soldiers killed in action once again became a contentious issue when, in December 2009, the father of 21-year-old Pte Jack Sadler, a soldier from Exmouth, Devon, killed in Afghanistan in 2007, complained that his letter had arrived two years after his death. Downing Street later admitted that letters to two other families had also been delayed. On 3 December Mr Brown "apologised unreservedly" for what he described as an "unacceptable error".