Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Will Gordon Have the Courage to Show His Face?

Of course the big shadow hanging over the CSR tomorrow will be that of Gordon Brown. After all, he got us into this mess in the first place. Reading the final pages of Peter Mandelson's book it is clear that he was intent on a spend, spend, spend approach and resisted all attempts by Alistair Darling to rein him in.

But since the election he seems to have opted out of politics altogether. He's appeared in the Commons two or three times but that's about it. Will he be in the chamber tomorrow to hear about the consequences of his profligacy? I doubt whether he'll have the courage. He won't like to recall the fact that post 1997 John Major was an assiduous attender and would regularly sit there and listen to his record being trashed by the very same Gordon Brown that seems to believe that the deficit is really nothing to do with him, but can be blamed on the world bankers. If only it were that simple.

Brown should not only show up tomorrow. He should speak, and defend his appalling record.

But will he have the courage?


Sres said...

Gordon Brown should be arrested for misuse of public funds.

I personally hold him responsible for the entire of our countries woes at this time right from the outset with regards to the FSA.

If I lived in Kirkcaldy I would want to know why my MP had only visited his place of work 3 times since May...

Will Sheward said...

Yes, Brown and Blair got us into this mess but I'm afraid the party I voted for has managed to make a bad job worse (at least at the MoD) through the truly shocking Harrier decision.

Carriers with no planes (except those we can borrow for show purposes from the US and France) for 10 years. Absurd and incoherent.

If the PM is operating on the assumption that the core Tory vote (like me) who are concerned about defence have nowhere else to go, then he's mistaken.

Lauchlan McLean said...

The gutless idiot will not appear, as it was every one elses fault and he was plotted against by the rest of the world.

Anonymous said...

Brown is unlikely to turn up unlesss his moral compass has finally started to function again.

Anonymous said...

If Brown turns up he should be arrested for treason.
The evidence? The £38 billion black hole in the defence budget.

WillS - the problem is the likely use of these planes over the next 5 years is in Afghanistan where the Harrier is the inferior option.
You are right carriers without planes is daft so you must ask why these carriers have been ordered now when the planes they were designed for only arrive in 10 yes TEN years.

Basically we are forced to operate them as overblown helicopter carriers.

Why did Labour order them just before an election?

Moriarty said...

"Will Gordon have the courage to show his face?"

Iain, you are a card.

Will Sheward said...



I'm afraid you're wrong there. Harriers were deployed to Afghanistan before the Tornados, giving us a good basis for comparison of the operational effectiveness of the two. The Harriers achieved a higher availability rate (I recall 95% as opposed to 84% for the Tornados) with half the deployed personnel (cheaper to operate).

The weapons load (at least the weapons load for munitions used in that theatre of operations) is pretty much the same. Not that it matters as the runway conditions there make it very dangerous to launch Tornados with a full weapons load (unlike Harriers using a short take off strategy).

The reconnaissance pod the RAF has been talking about is largely irrelevant as that task is done by Astors and UAVs, both of which can stay on station for the required period of time, Tornado cannot.

And then there's the upgrade issue. All the Tornados need to be re-engined over the next 5 years. The Harriers do (or did) not.

Originally the RAF had planned to deploy Typhoons in a ground attack role to Afghanistan. Then they discovered that the dusty conditions made engine damage too severe for these delicate flowers. The Tornados were deployed only to try and demonstrate their utility over the Harriers, a ruse that I'm afraid my government has fallen for.

Still, I suppose I should be grateful for this quantum leap in UK strategic thinking. Instead of assuming all future wars will be like the last one, we're now assuming they'll all be like the current one. Of course, we're leaving the current one in a few years.

Mirtha Tidville said...

It would be nice to think that the man who until recently had his finger on the nuclear button might be misunderstood and had some redeeming features. But he doesnt, he is a mentally flawed buffoon who was fine as long as everyone agreed with his deluded version of events, especially spending.Now that the ability to control everything has gone he wont play..

Sad but true..

Will Sheward said...



Actually, given the redesign for catobar operation, the planes are available now. The excellent, still being ordered by the US Navy in large quantities, viable to 2035, F18 Super Hornet.

So we're continuing with the F35C? A plane we still don't know the cost of (purchase or operation) in place of a type every unit of which has been delivered by Boeing to price and at or ahead of schedule.

Once again, industrial strategy pandering trumps defence needs.

Unknown said...

When you think about it, nobody in any party would actually welcome his appearance.

Unknown said...

If Brown had a shred of decency he would resign his seat and quietly piss off to some backwater where he can no longer do any harm.

I feel sorry for his constituents - they are the ones being short changed by this disgraceful man.

Brown has single handedly sullied the word "moral" for all eternity.

Hughes. said...

Gordon displays Courage every day, on his bookshelf. I wonder if he earned out the advance?

Daedalus said...

Trevorsden got it right.

Treason. HIM for spending it and BLIAR for allowing him to do it!!!!

What really does my head in, is the legacy that the Major govt left; completely, completely and utterly blown. The only words in the English language to adequately describe how I feel about these champagne socialist twits (insert your own vowel instead of the I) I would rather not use in polite company, they are so Anglo Saxon!!!