In this video Gordon Brown pledges to honour the promises Labour made at the last election. But will he?
Spin
Voters believe that Brown spins and steals (policies)
An ICM poll for Newsnight's new politics page finds that the public believe that Gordon Brown is as much of a spin merchant as Tony Blair and has stolen Conservative ideas on tax.
61% said that Gordon Brown was "no different" from Tony Blair in terms of political spinning. 15% actually thought that he was more likely to spin.
57% agreed that Gordon Brown had "pinched Conservative ideas on tax" and including them in Labour's spending review.
Shadow cabinet minister Chris Grayling has also uncovered doctoring of Gordon Brown's monthly press conference. Many readers might find some of the 'doctorings' insignificant but a transcript should be a faithful transcript. If minor edits are permitted, bigger edits will be next.
MIDDLE EAST
What Mr Brown said:
"And the Iraqis have got to get a message, as I will give them today at the House of Commons, that they must not intervene in Iraq in a way that is breeding further violence . . . and the Iraqis must hear the message..."
What the official transcript says:
"And the Iranians have got to get a message, as I will give them today at the House of Commons, that they must not intervene in Iraq in a way that is breeding further violence . . . and the Iranians must hear the message..."
TORY TAX PLANS
What Mr Brown actually said:
" ... if we were to go back to that idea that we had in the early nineties where you make tax promises, have no way of sensibly or realistically affording them, then that not only means that you cannot meet your promises, it causes economic stability and it was exactly the problem that was caused in the early 1990s..."
What the official transcript says:
" ... if we were to go back to that idea that we had in the early nineties where you make tax promises, have no way of sensibly or realistically affording them, then that not only means that you cannot meet your promises, it causes economic instability and it was exactly the problem that was caused in the early 1990s ..."
THE NON-ELECTION
What Brown said:
When asked if if he was a "Fife featie" (Scots slang for a coward), Mr Brown replied: "Not at all! You know in this debate about strength and weakness and about fear and determination, I think let the people judge..."
What the official transcript says:
The exclamation "Not at all" is not recorded.
EU TREATY
What Mr Brown said:
"...people believe the change is so fundamental as a result of this amended treaty that there should be a referendum. Now that is where the issue lies..."
What the official transcript says:
"...people believe the change is so fundamental as a result of this amending treaty that there should be a referendum. Now that is where the issue lies..."
61% said that Gordon Brown was "no different" from Tony Blair in terms of political spinning. 15% actually thought that he was more likely to spin.
57% agreed that Gordon Brown had "pinched Conservative ideas on tax" and including them in Labour's spending review.
Shadow cabinet minister Chris Grayling has also uncovered doctoring of Gordon Brown's monthly press conference. Many readers might find some of the 'doctorings' insignificant but a transcript should be a faithful transcript. If minor edits are permitted, bigger edits will be next.
MIDDLE EAST
What Mr Brown said:
"And the Iraqis have got to get a message, as I will give them today at the House of Commons, that they must not intervene in Iraq in a way that is breeding further violence . . . and the Iraqis must hear the message..."
What the official transcript says:
"And the Iranians have got to get a message, as I will give them today at the House of Commons, that they must not intervene in Iraq in a way that is breeding further violence . . . and the Iranians must hear the message..."
TORY TAX PLANS
What Mr Brown actually said:
" ... if we were to go back to that idea that we had in the early nineties where you make tax promises, have no way of sensibly or realistically affording them, then that not only means that you cannot meet your promises, it causes economic stability and it was exactly the problem that was caused in the early 1990s..."
What the official transcript says:
" ... if we were to go back to that idea that we had in the early nineties where you make tax promises, have no way of sensibly or realistically affording them, then that not only means that you cannot meet your promises, it causes economic instability and it was exactly the problem that was caused in the early 1990s ..."
THE NON-ELECTION
What Brown said:
When asked if if he was a "Fife featie" (Scots slang for a coward), Mr Brown replied: "Not at all! You know in this debate about strength and weakness and about fear and determination, I think let the people judge..."
What the official transcript says:
The exclamation "Not at all" is not recorded.
EU TREATY
What Mr Brown said:
"...people believe the change is so fundamental as a result of this amended treaty that there should be a referendum. Now that is where the issue lies..."
What the official transcript says:
"...people believe the change is so fundamental as a result of this amending treaty that there should be a referendum. Now that is where the issue lies..."
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Fake hospital opening tops off 100 days of spin
The Conservatives have today released a dossier of what Brown has spun since he came to office. It comes as they highlight the fake opening of a Cardiothoracic Centre by Brown today:
- The May/June edition of the Basildon & Thurrock Hospitals newsletter featured this photo of a senior civil servant handing over a ceremonial key to the Chairman of the local NHS Trust.
- On July 2nd it was press released that the Centre had taken its first patients.
- Alan Johnson visited the operational facility at the end of July.
- Brown was pictured today (October 4th) cutting the ribbon to 'open' said facility. One of the first patients from July, Peter Cripps, was even brought back for the 'opening'.
Spinning the roulette wheel
When the Labour government first proposed relaxed laws on gambling such as the introduction of supercasinos much was said about Brown, then Chancellor, ditching his roots as the son of a Church of Scotland minister. He cleverly redeemed himself on becoming Prime Minister, however, by doing a U-turn and scrapping the plans for supercasinos.
Now he's showing a worrying complacency towards the massive issue of problem gambling - something which affects low income families more than aristocrats and international spies. His press team have tried to spin The Gambling Commission's damning prevalence report as an encouraging progress report, saying that it shows that only 1 in 100 people are problem gamblers. It doesn't take much scratching of the surface to see the real nature of the report, they got this statistic by ingeniously including the lottery.
Tobias Ellwood MP, Shadow Minister for Media, Culture and Sport, gave us this statement:
"With the dexterity of a steely eyed poker player, Gordon Brown gave little away in the lead up to the Gambling Commission's report, allowing speculation to flourish that problem gambling was on the rise. When the cards were finally placed on the table, it seems that a mere 1 in 100 adults has an addiction to gambling. Look a little closer and we see this is a clever bluff. The number of problem gamblers jumps considerably to 1 in 7 for users of spread betting, 1 in 10 for users of Fixed Odds Betting Terminal's and 1 in 10 for users of betting exchanges; the very areas of gambling that will now be advertised on our television screens. If Britain wants to be the regulatory beacon of socially responsible gambling that the Government promised, Gordon Brown will need to look the nation in the eye with a little more senerity and commitment."
Going down with Gordon BrownNews about Mr Brown's failings
- Brown breaks promise about using proceeds of fuel duty for higher transport spending
- Brown under fire for Iraq trip and the over-egged announcement of troop withdrawals
- Times: Brown insists on having his own mobile phone that civil servants don't listen in on
- Nick Cohen in the Observer: An alliance is forming against Brown's love affair with the super-rich
- Marina Hyde in the Guardian: We know more about Brown since he met Thatcher, but less about his beliefs
- Telegraph: Peter Ainsworth MP writes about the Brown government's mishandling of Foot and Mouth
- Telegraph: The housing of British servicemen's families is "disgraceful"
- Conservative Party: Brown is trying to cover up economic problems
- Telegraph: Brown congratulates Scotland's football manager on winning a match, but not England's
- Conservative Party: Brown bungs unions an extra £2.8m after making a show of being critical of them
What people should know about Chancellor Brown
- Brown's "Stalinist" behaviour as Chancellor
- Brown's budgets have always been deceptively presented
- Brown's failure to fund the nation's prisons
- Britain's state got fatter than Germany's under Brown
- Defence spending is lowest since 1930s
- Gordon Brown's excessive borrowing
- Life expectancy in parts of Scotland is lower than in Bosnia, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Iran or North Korea
- Brown's policies discriminated against two parent families
- Brown hugely increased dependency on the state to one-third of all households
- Brown's tax credits fiasco with huge fraud and overpayments
- Brown ignored advice when he initiated the £100bn raid on Britain's pensions
- The poor got poorer under Brown
- The waste of the Gordon Brown Millennium Dome years
- Brown's failure to deliver efficiency savings
- Brown's centralising and target obsessions did not deliver results
- Personal debt exploded under Gordon Brown
- Brown uses your money to make party political points
- How England subsidises the rest of Brown's Britain
- A list of Gordon Brown's tax rises
- Only 30% of Brown's extra taxpayer-funded spending has reached the frontline of our nation's public services
- Brown lost £2bn mis-selling UK's gold
- The child poverty of Brown's reign
- Brown created Soviet levels of dependence in the north of England
- Gordon Brown's constant dodging of parliamentarians' questions
- Brown created an undemocratic quango state
