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| Gordon Brown: When just OK just won't do |
Sophie Ridge says the muted reaction to Gordon Brown's speech spells big trouble.
DOING a speech at the Labour party conference is like being a pop star and performing in front of your biggest fans.
Gordon Brown was preaching to the converted. His cheerleaders in the front row nodded along to every word, of course.
But will it convert the average person on the street, battling to make ends meet? Will it make them come out and vote Labour in the next election? Unlikely.
The general feeling at the Conference is that Brown’s speech was OK.
But OK just isn’t going to cut it when Labour are plunging in the polls.
There was nothing in it that was going to set the world alight.
And no grand plan of action that will save Gordon’s skin. The knives are likely to soon come out again, and Gordon should watch his back.
But today’s speech said a lot about relationships in the Labour party.
There will be a cabinet re-shuffle after the conference, and everyone is wondering who will get the chop. Gordon didn’t mention his Chancellor Alistair Darling.
Is this a clue that the man with the bushy eyebrows could find himself demoted in the re-shuffle?
Darling had a face like thunder after the speech, which could be a clue. Brown name-checked David Miliband – his biggest leadership rival – only in the briefest way, right at the end of the speech.
And interestingly, the two ministers he praised the most were Ed Balls and Alan Johnson.
Ed Balls is Brown’s most loyal fan. And Alan Johnson has made it clear that he does not want to be Prime Minister.
Put simply, neither are leadership rivals. A coincidence? I think not.
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