What happened to Gordan Brown today, was not just a ‘ Brown moment’ or the kind of gaffe that Prince Philip fires to keep us hacks amused, no it is an example of how New Labour own spin not just comes back to haunt them, but it’s made them captive to their own control freakery and their spin, their obsession with controlling situation and keeping the leader ‘on message’was to blame for what happened to Brown today.
The anatomy of today’s incident is simple. The Prime Minister met a pensioner who happens to be concerned with concerns that everyone in middle Britain or in lower-middle-class Britain is concerned about. she talked about the financial situation, about how the Prime Minister is going to get us to come out of this mess, about her pension not being enough, about the way of funding her grandchildren’s eductation; and something worrying almost everyone, but the main parties chose not to talk about, not to mention, not to address; the ‘i’ word: immigration. What she said was simple; it wasn’t politically incorrect.. It wasn’t, it wasn’t racist, nor was it Xenophobic either. It was a kind of remark you hear it from anybody, simply speaking of what she saw as an influx of migrants, of newcomers from Eastern Europe. Not not in a million year you can say she was bigoted.
Ironically, when hacks asked Mrs Duffy what she thought, she spoke warmly of the Prime Minister satisfied, even though might not be convinced by all his answers, but in general she was satisfied, she felt comfortable, and was at ease when the Prime Minister put his arm round her shoulders and chatted to her.
For us hacks watching the scene, I for one, will say it went okay for the politician; he left the scene with an electorate speaking warmly of him behind his back, the irony of this, irony of ironies saying she would vote Labour. Mr. Brown wasn’t excellent, Mrs Duffy wasn’t angry (unlike Tony Blair in 2005 election when he came face-to-face with an angry woman outside a hospital when she was totally dissatisfied with the health service and way he was managing the NHS; in fact his minders tried to persuade her to com to a face-to-face meeting with the Prime Minister at the time but she refused; and what she said to the media was not exactly flattering about Tony Blair; yet he handled it very well and tied to be civil and he was quite easy about.). So one can summarise the encounter between Mrs Duffy and Mr. Brown that it was easy warm and amicable. What’s more a politician campaigning for re-election can ask for?
Unlike Mrs Duffy who spoke kindly and warmly of Brown behind his back; as soon as he stepped into his car, he thought it was a disaster. What on earth would make him think it was a disaster? Furthermore he tried to blame some one for what he thought to be a disaster; put it on someone is. he said I didn’t want to meet this kind of woman or something like that or asked who put her on his way? was it sue? (Political secretary). The point here here is because something that he did not want to come out from within Labour supporters like immigration or at least he thought the situation was out of control (although it was perfectly controled, relax and very positive for Labour) it was what New Labour jargon, new Labour spin is calling ‘off message’ ie he was not on message; shock horror, Peter Mandelson might put him on the naughty step.
It is the Mandelsonian, Campbellian spin, and controle-freakery; The legacy of new Labour’s Alistair Campbell/Tony Blair/Peter Mandelson/Stephen Byers (like: in a good day to bury bad news). This frame of mind in selling new Labour’s second-hand spin trying to control the media by being ‘on message’ 24 hours a day seven days a week; that led the Prime Minister to panic because of a few moments of 66 years old pensioner appear at to be caught off message. And it gets worse.
When you are in the a hole, stop digging but his minders didn’t, they kept on digging. First of all their gross incompetence, forgetting to check the very pin-in microphone for which they asked in the first place; they did not check that their bosses microphone was on or off (just a message to the electorate would you trust the most incompetent bunch who could not checka microphone was on or off, run the country?)
So , again, when the Prime Minister went into the BBC radio two studio, they sameminders, with the same incompetence, didn’t bother to check whether the war is a camera inside it once what they thought to be only a radio studio (any first year media studies knows that news media organisations obsession with intrants and online puts more than one camera inside each radio studio in as far as in newsrooms and put it live on the intranets on that station with that program website). When Jeremy Vine, the BBC2 presenter, played the tape that sky microphone had recorded, of the Prime Minister describing Mrs Duffy as bigoted woman, It was shown to the whole world, the Prime Minister putting his head in his hands in shame, into a resignation and the man appeared to be at loss . (I bet Lord Mandelson, was on the phone using the F word to one of the minders saying someone warns him and F****** camera in studio but obviously they couldn’t reach him and tell him because he was already live and the damage was inflicted and a hole in which the Prime Minister was stuck was being dug deeper and deeper).
It would have been okay, or, the most effective course of action for the Prime Minister to make public the apology he made to Mrs Duffy on the telephone perhaps send her a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine and with a written apology (as he did it with the care and sold your mother when he sent a letter for the typos), and moved on.
But made another disastrous move by announcing in advance he was going to her home to apologise personally ( You think the minders would go and fetch her to his hotel in a more controlled environment ?). So media circus anchored their ships on her front drive-way, and a good crowd of passerbys and school-children where out there. After 40 minutes, the man who never smile ( we see him often face to face, never smile), comes out wearing smile; the kind of smile he reaches for when he is stressed out and lacks confidence….
It is worse , 100 times worse than Prescott punching the guy who made him break eggs without making omelette…..and the party that lived by the media spin….well…it has outlived its sell-by-date.