Remember Stretch Armstrong?  A real blast from the past….but Stretch and Gordon Brown have a lot in common, both give plastic performances, neither can smile and both are pliable and can be shaped in different directions…including in U Shapes….!!!

We seem to be in U-Turn city this week……

Central Labour Party Policy 1…scrapped…….The National ID Card Scheme

So yesterday we were told by the new Home Secretary Alan Johnson that compulsory ID Cards were to be scrapped.  Remember how Jacqui Smith said that a National ID Card Scheme was essential in the fight against serious crime and preventing terrorist atrocities in the UK.  Alan Johnson completely ignored this and said that ID cards would be beneficial for students proving their age in the pub…..quite a difference.  That’s a big ideological jump…ID cards prevent terrorism to ID Cards get you a pint in the pub!  Derisory yes…laughable..totally!

So the National ID Card Scheme……which would have cost £4.9bn is now dead….on a compulsory basis.  People can voluntarily request them…which if noone does means the scheme is then completly dead.  Well, it’s dead then!

So Central Labour Party Policy 2…scrapped…….Post Office Privatisation

Today, Lord Mandelson, fresh from complaining that Post Office Privatisation was being ‘jostled’ by a busy legislative agenda, went one step further and effectively killed off Post Office Privatisation before the election.  Mandelson charmed the House of Lords stating:  ”Market conditions have made it impossible to conclude the process to identify a partner on terms that would give market value to the taxpayer.”  The government would look at the issue again “when market conditions have changed”, he added.  (That means after the election!).

Let’s say that Mandelson was economical with the truth.  Brown & Mandy knew that there was a real chance this legislation could have been defeated by….Labour backbenchers.  Brown needed the support of Tories to get this through.  Given recent leadership issues he could not stir this issue up. Around 180 Labour MPs had signed a motion calling on the government to keep Royal Mail in public ownership.  This was not a battle Brown needed.

2 massive U-Turns in 2 days….this is added to the moving away from targets in schools, the introduction of private tutors into schools and in the health service, the move towards private enterprise with patients, faced with slow NHS service being able to go for Private Care, funded by the state.

So many U-turns that it is hard to keep up.

No authority, no vision, no direction……..what dismal days Brown is leading his Party in.