Gordon Brown’s Reputation in History

History will deal Gordon Brown a kinder hand than contemporary commentators, so says Anthony Seldon in the Guardian today. “The reputation of Brown’s premiership will grow” he says, although it is hard to see how it could in any case go much further in the opposite direction!  Nevertheless, in providing a brief overview of some of Gordon Brown’s achievements - which may have been overlooked in the recent election campaign - and in outlining the differences between Brown and Blair, Seldon’s piece gives AS students a last look at the Brown premiership, and perhaps one or two bon mots with which to spice up their answers on the executive in the imminent exam.

Seldon - who has made something of a living (alongside his day job as Head of Wellington College) out of analysing the different premierships of recent years - makes some interesting comparisons between Blair and Brown. Blair, he suggests, was much the better political operator, but achieved rather less than Brown when it comes down to substantive policies. He sees Brown as the creative force behind much of the success of the first Blair term, although conversely says that Brown then went on to limit the success of the second term with his obduracy. Blair, of course, faced a far sunnier set of political circumstances in 1997 than Brown ever managed to face. And the manner of Brown’s exit was, indeed, a dignified one.

Seldon provides useful illumination and some recent historical parallels - he compares Brown with that other short-lived Labour premier and former Chancellor, James Callaghan. Whether or not the way in which Brown conducted his office - revealed so vividly in Andrew Rawnsley’s book - will have an impact alongside an assessment of his political record remains to be seen, although I suspect Seldon is right. The stuff of Rawnsley’s book - Brown’s rages, his way of working - makes for entertaining reading, but hardly affected Brown even amongst voters today; I don’t think history will see that side of him as more than a footnote. More serious will be the analysis of his role in Blair’s government, which was such an essential precursor to his own short premiership.

The Coalition and the Conservatives [9 Oct 2011]
How Cameron is Shaping the Premiership [3 Apr 2011]
What does Cabinet do? [1 Nov 2010]
Power in the central executive territory [16 Oct 2010]
What Does Ed Miliband’s Victory Tell Us About Modern British Political Leadership? [26 Sep 2010]
Assessing Blair - Robert Harris’ Damning Review [12 Sep 2010]
Tabloids and Governments [6 Sep 2010]
Full Cabinet graphic [18 May 2010]
Cameron As Prime Minister - Is There Anything AS Students Can Say? [15 May 2010]
Brown’s inner circle - AS exam update [6 Apr 2010]
Brown in Power – What the Rawnsley Revelations Tell Us About the Office of Prime Minister [21 Feb 2010]
Prime Ministerial Power: PMs behaving badly? [21 Feb 2010]
Executive Power [17 Jan 2010]
The heat is on [17 Nov 2009]
Cabinet unshuffle [17 Aug 2009]
It’s the economy, stupid! [1 Jul 2009]
AS last minute updates [2 Jun 2009]
AS revision: PM power [30 May 2009]
AS revision: MPs’ expenses [20 May 2009]
A new spin on PM power [28 Mar 2009]
Brown and the first PM [23 Feb 2009]
Brown and Mandy [15 Jan 2009]
An hour is a long time in politics [12 Oct 2008]
Media Monday: the Cabinet reshuffle [6 Oct 2008]
McRae on how Brown blew it [24 Sep 2008]
Wipeout! [21 Sep 2008]
Your chance to vote for Britain’s greatest post-war Prime Minister [19 Sep 2008]
Just another Media Monday [7 Sep 2008]
Brown to reshuffle the pack? [16 Aug 2008]
Gordo’s premiership: whatever happened to the clunking fist? [12 Apr 2008]
Brown eggs: pick of the papers [23 Mar 2008]
Brown examples [22 Mar 2008]
Brown’s revolting problem [1 Mar 2008]