Blair told aide 'Gordon will lose to Cameron'
The problems are mounting for Gordon Brown and the words of his previous Prime Minister will cut him deeply. Lord Levy had revealed that Tony Blair privately told him that he did not think Brown could ever beat Cameron in a general election.
Even though Blair last night issued a statement categorically denying the claims and insisting he did believe Labour could win under his successor, there was consternation in Downing Street.
In his memoirs, serialised today in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Levy writes that Blair 'told me on a number of occasions he was convinced Gordon "could never beat Cameron"'. The peer added in an interview yesterday that Blair was 'disappointed to see Labour's slide' under his successor, with an ICM poll of marginal seats showing yesterday that on current polling trends 131 Labour MPs could lose their seats, handing David Cameron a solid majority.
I happen to agree that, as things stand today, Brown has almost no chance of beating Cameron at the polls, but I disagree that it had to be so.
When Brown came to power the country was sick to the back teeth of Blair's policies, especially his foreign policies. Brown was presented with a massive open goal which he lacked the courage to put the ball through. He should have ended our involvement in the Iraq war rather than pulling our forces only as far as Basra airport, where they remain involved in the war without having any influence over that war.
He should never have pushed for the 42 day extension for the detention of terrorist suspects which is a policy which simply stinks of Blairism.
And his decision to abolish the ten pence tax rate which effects some of the poorest people in our society was an own goal which I am still scratching my head trying to comprehend.
Brown was supposed to represent Labour after the long years of Tony and New Labour. Instead, he has clung to all that was wrong about New Labour and presented no new policies which could be considered Labour policies.
The irony of all this is that Ken Livingstone might pay the price for Gordon's inability to promote policies which are sufficiently Labour. Ken is as resolutely Old Labour as it is possible for any MP to be, which is why I will be giving him my vote come May 1st.One government source said some colleagues now believed Labour would be out of power for the next two parliaments and were questioning which cabinet ministers would still be young enough to lead the party by the time it recovered: 'A lot of people are saying "we have lost the next election and the one after that, but when we come back I'll only be 43" or whatever.' MPs were looking to younger cabinet members such as James Purnell, Andy Burnham, the Miliband brothers or even Yvette Cooper to lead such a revival, he said.
Brown's future now depends heavily on pulling off better-than-expected results in Thursday's elections. Although London MPs reported voters swinging back to Livingstone this weekend, they urged Brown to stay away from the campaign for fear he will turn voters off. 'Every time Ken is associated with any Labour minister, and Gordon in particular, it just switches off a whole layer of support,' said one senior London MP. Another close friend of Livingstone said Brown should stay away and 'just let him win.'
Brown's problems stem from the fact that he has lacked the kind of courage which Ken has displayed. Brown has governed by trying to replicate Blair, certainly in terms of policies, and has never been the left wing Prime Minister which we all thought he was going to be. Many Londoners disagree with Ken's leftist views, but he has always won a sort of grudging admiration for the strength of his convictions and for his ability to articulate them.
Should Ken lose because of Brown that would simply be too horrible, especially when one looks at what London would be saddled with as it's Mayor.
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