Has Gordon got it?
- 25 Sep 06, 11:01 AM
The torture chamber. That's how Harold Macmillan described television when it first began to intrude into politics. And that was when a tough question consisted of a reporter asking the PM, "have you anything to say prime minister?".
Compare that with what Gordon Brown is going through today. This morning the chancellor moved from one camera and microphone to the next in Manchester's Midland Hotel. At each he was followed by a crowd of onloookers watching his every smile or grimace and listening to and scrutinising every word.
Even between interviews - as he consulted his notes or asked for a drink - zoom lenses were pointing at him. Throughout this everyone knew that he was not being asked to defend his actions or his policies or his beliefs - but his personality. That is also how his speech today will be judged.
His enemies in the Labour Party have set him a test - prove that you can be popular. Let's be clear, it's a test that's been set mainly by people who want him to fail and believe he will. They know that they cannot afford to do "a Clarke" and launch a full-frontal assault on Brown. They know that the polls don't look too good for Gordon - in part, of course, because they have provided the media and the public with a script - "he's psychologically flawed... he's not a team player... he's an obsessive".
Now they are challenging Gordon Brown to prove them wrong. All feuds have two sides, of course. Mr Brown must now be rueing how easily he's made enemies rather in the past.
The question hanging over this conference today is, "has Gordon got it?". There is another question though - if he proves he has got it, has the Labour Party got it within themselves to forgive, forget and back him, or are some determined to bring him down?
