Gordon Brown's Sermon on the Mound

In his speech to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Gordon Brown said. “And what I want to argue is that the joining of these two forces - the information revolution and the human urge to co-operate for justice - makes possible for the first time in history something we have only dreamt about: the creation of a truly global society.”

This one sentence demonstrates all that is wrong about Brown’s view of his role as PM. Like Blair he has a touch of the Messianic, unlike Blair he doesn’t have the people around him that allow him to go off and be messianic, while they take care of the shop. Brown constantly goes on about world this, global that, ending world poverty, abolishing illiteracy, eradicating diseases and sorting out every problem around the world, while back home - where we’re thinking about a very different agenda - things are going from bad to worse.

Brown’s lack of leadership is now recognized by every commentator – bar a few batty Nu-Labour luvvies – and what is becoming clear is the fact that he believes by talking enough about doing the right thing, all will come right in the end. In his speech he yet again talked the talk on creating a fairer society, yet he seems unable to convince anyone that he and his gang of Prefects have any of the answers.

Brown said early in his speech that…”amidst all the challenges and headlines of recent months I have learned what really matters: that, for me, a life is best measured not by what office or title you hold but by what difference you can make by seeking to do what you judge the right thing, however difficult, and by the causes to which you dedicate your efforts.” This perfectly sums up his philosophy. He believes he’s doing the right thing, and I believe he believes it. However, it’s one thing having the belief, it’s quite another thing being able to put into practice what you preach. The PM’s lack of leadership extends to being unable to get his inexperienced bunch of smiling, smartly dressed, eager beavers to get the job done. For the most part the political professionals that now hold the majority of the high offices in this country just seem out of their depth; they speak in platitudes, they quote statistics aplenty, but they just don’t fill me with confidence. Can you imagine what many senior civil servants make of their ministers?

Brown’s last sentence of his speech encapsulated why it’s all going to continue to go horribly wrong. “And our task now is extraordinarily complex and yet very simple: together we must make this world a better home - not just for some, but for all”. Banal, daft and it demonstrates that being too long in high office, too far removed from what matters to ordinary people, has made the son of the manse start behaving like a Victorian vicar - one that studies paleontology or some other deeply worthy subject while his parishioners suffer. Gordon, out here in the fields people have to fight for their meals. Britain isn’t so much a teenage wasteland as one that will fast become a wasted opportunity for many teenagers who will increasingly see their future abroad. This may not be the last days of Rome but Brown is certainly not leading us to salvation. His self-righteousness’s is going to be our undoing.