British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is probably not enjoying the job he openly craved while serving as Tony Blair’s Chancellor for so long. As the scandal of MPs’ expenses continues to unfold, with damaging disclosures for all parliamentary parties in the UK, his government has been badly hit and his own stewardship is being called into question, even by members of his own party.
Two cabinet ministers have resigned in the space of 24 hours and two junior ministers have also withdrawn from the government. Labour backbenchers are unhappy with Mr Brown’s performance and fearful that he will lead them to a general election defeat. Yesterday, voters went to the polls in local and European elections in which Labour was expected to fare rather badly.
There are increasing suggestions that Mr Brown is himself now fighting for his political life, even as a make-or-break cabinet reshuffle is anticipated this weekend.
On Tuesday, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith resigned. She was a serial bungler, seemingly intent on undoing the UK’s reputation for fair play, civil rights and law and order. Her fall came in almost comical circumstances, when it was discovered that her husband had charged the viewing of two pornographic movies to her official expenses, amidst other more egregious examples of abuse of the taxpayers’ money and trust. She had become a liability for the Prime Minister and had to go. She is unlikely to be missed by many.
Then on Wednesday, Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, tendered her resignation, following revelations that she avoided paying capital gains tax on the sale of two properties. But Ms Blears, a staunch member of the Labour Party’s Blairite faction, was not expected to survive a reshuffle and her voluntary departure is being viewed as a deliberate move to undermine further the Prime Minister’s grip on the party and on the government.
The collapse of Mr Brown’s cabinet is all rather ironic, as he had announced, after taking up the reins of government in 2007, his intention to make of his cabinet a “Ministry of All the Talents,” incorporating Conservatives and technocrats in an attempt to build a new, post-Blair, national consensus.
Two years later, the cabinet bears little resemblance to its original composition and the “talents” of many of its remaining members seem to be somewhat questionable.
The Opposition Leader David Cameron, has described the government as “dysfunctional” and the only national consensus that Mr Brown would appear to have forged is that he is unlikely to win the next election.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, President Barack Obama has offered something of a tutorial on how to form a cabinet dream team. He has reached out to former rivals and to the defeated Republicans, most notably incorporating Hillary Clinton and George W Bush’s Defence Secretary Robert Gates, in addition to appointing bright, new faces like the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Stephen Chu, along with – controversially for some observers – veterans of Bill Clinton’s White House.
And while Mr Obama’s administration has had its teething pains, one would be hard pressed to deny that the new President has brought energy, dynamism and a real sense of leadership to the task of governing. It might be unfair to Mr Brown, the dour and doggedly determined Scot, to compare him with the charismatic Mr Obama, but the latter is already showing that there is substance to match his style and his cabinet appears by and large equal to the task of following his lead.
The British, of course, like to play Fantasy Football and Fantasy Cricket, giving armchair sportsmen and women the chance to pick their ideal teams in online competitions, in much the same way that we Guyanese like to choose our all-time West Indies or Guyana Elevens.
It would, in this respect, be fascinating if we could elect or select a Fantasy Cabinet, our own “Ministry of All the Talents,” which, given the dearth of sufficient management skills and specialist knowledge in any one political party in Guyana, could perhaps point the way towards a more inclusive government and more inclusive governance.
Maybe our parties are not yet ready for the idea of the ‘big tent’ approach. Maybe we need electoral and constitutional reform. In the meantime, however, some of our readers and bloggers might be only too happy to proffer their views about who could comprise the ideal national cabinet, without any regard to party affiliation, race or gender.
Let’s call it ‘Fantasy Politics.’ Many of us already play it in rum shops, beer gardens, social clubs and in our dreams of national unity and progress for all.
