Psychologically flawed after all
Messrs Brown and Darling obviously thought that by taking on the policy areas highlighted by George Osborne last week, they were being really politically astute.
Of course the magpie headlines will convince some people that this is all politicians’ gamesmanship and is in the unattractive nature of the beast. However, it really is a miscalculation. Gordon Brown until recently as Prime Minister sought to project himself as some sort of statesman like figure above the fray. The clever, clever nature of yesterday’s PBR shows him to be the evasive sort of politician, something which over time will become more apparent. I suspect that even Tony Blair, that great actor manager, would have drawn the line at the absurd attempt to outfox the Tories.
Gordon Brown in retrospect will have been seen to have done himself no favours yesterday. The underlining economic budget reality is obvious to see. It really was cheap and pathetic stuff from a Government that has clearly run out of steam.