Putative PM Brown poleaxed by former Civil Service Chief

An unprecedented and highly personal attack on the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, appeared in today's FT, linked here. Brown previously noted mainly for his stealth taxes, robbing pensioners and probably in history for his destruction of Britain's manafacturing industry if not its entire economy, has also achieved a fairly strong reputation, justifiably or not, for standing 'up to' and/or 'out against' the EU. That organisation almost surely did for Margaret Thatcher leaving her party (aided by the IRA) with a succession of non-entities as leader- is the same fate now in store for New Labour? Or, is this perhaps part of a plot to realize my New Year prediction on this blog that B-liar will still be PM as this year ends? Time will tell!!!! The voices raised against Brown are senior and serious enough, including Eddie George, ex-Governor of the Bank of England, to be perfectly aware of the results and consequences of their remarks to the press. This cannot IMO have happened by a series of unintended leaks! I quote the following illustrations: Mr Brown’s tendency to make decisions without consultation was confirmed by Lord George when the former governor of the Bank of England said he had been “very surprised” when Mr Brown proceeded to set up the Financial Services Authority, the City watchdog, without consulting him..... Lord Turnbull noted that Bank of England independence would have suited Mr Brown by allowing him to disavow responsibility for interest rate rises. “The chancellor has a Macavity quality. He is not there when there is dirty work to be done.”....

In some areas, Lord Turnbull said, the Treasury had become itself the policymaker and guardian over a set of policies such as tax credits. The chancellor, he said, had kept control of those budgets “entirely to himself”.

“That has been impressive, but in a sense reprehensible. There has been an absolute ruthlessness with which Gordon has played the denial of information as an instrument of power.”

Departments learned only just before Budgets “this is what you are getting and here are your public service agreements”.