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Gordon Brown and His GOATS
Paul Medlicott
Director of The Westminster Consortium
Formerly a journalist working on national newspapers and BBC television, Paul directed media campaigns for the Liberal Party in the 1983 General Election and for the SDP Liberal Alliance in the 1985 European Election. He formed the government relations company, The Westminster Consortium, in 1986 and heads political communication at the virtual firm Campaignteam.
Gordon Brown enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon after he took over as British Prime Minister from Tony Blair in the summer. He declared an end to the old sloganeering politics, talked of consensus over division, made some shrewd appointments of parliamentarians from opposition parties to work with him and invited Margaret Thatcher to tea.
He also appointed five distinguished people from outside politics to senior governmental posts. These were his GOATS - his "government of all talents".
Altogether, a ritzy team: Sir Digby Jones, former director general of the CBI (trade and investment); Admiral Sir Alan West, former head of the Royal Navy (security); Professor Sir Ara Darzi, consultant surgeon and robotics expert (health); Shriti Vadera, ex UBS Warburg (international development); and Sir Mark Malloch Brown, former UN deputy general secretary (Foreign Office).
At first the five coped well and managed the unfamiliar experience of being only junior ministers in their departments, despite some off-the-record sneering from officials and others which led to the GOAT acronym.
The Brown premiership was proving popular. He and his GOATS were introducing a rack of good-looking policies. The new team was dealing well with various national and international crises and managing some necessary distancing from the Blair legacy.
Despite his new policies Brown made it clear that he was sticking by the manifesto promises on which the Labour Party had won the last General Election - so no need to call a new one. Then, surprisingly, during the late summer he dithered over the possibility of calling a snap election to establish his own mandate.
However, while the opinion polls looked good, and David Cameron's Conservatives were unprepared, changes in the political landscape in Scotland, and the fact that the Labour Party had not selected potential candidates in dozens of key constituencies, killed the idea.
Brown then compounded the dither by a self-serving explanation that did much to wipe out the kudos he'd gained by his effective handling of earlier difficulties, ranging from floods to foot and mouth disease.
Now the Government of All the Talents is having to work very hard. Attacked over the decision to lend Northern Rock more than £24bn in emergency funding from the Bank of England, it has also faced stern criticism after computer discs containing 25 million Child Benefit claimants' details went missing from HM Revenue and Customs. The GOATS have also made unfortunate headlines with off-message remarks.
Gordon Brown is now accused of putting economic stability at risk, a distressing charge against the former "Iron Chancellor" and, while he is fighting back with speeches about his vision for the country, he has been hit by a new party funding scandal, and only time will tell how successful he will be in leading his goats back to higher, sunnier pastures.
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