Brown to become a Mark II Churchill

According to Ben Brogan, who is by no means a balanced observer of the political scene, Brown has become obsessed with Winston:

Mr Brown is currently obsessed with Winston Churchill, and how to avoid his fate. Those around the Prime Minister describe how he is preoccupied by the idea of a war-time leader who guided the nation to safety through dark times, only to be thanked with a thumping defeat.

For the Second World War, read the financial crisis; for D-Day, read the bank rescues and the fiscal stimulus package. By his reckoning, Mr Brown has led us through the Normandy bocage, but the Ardennes and the Rhine lie ahead.

Once you recover from the shock that after the summer Brown will make Churchilian like speeches, there is an important point that Brogan makes:

The trick, Downing Street believes, is to fight the next election as if it was November 1944, when the war was going well but far from won. On no account must Labour give the impression that the worst is over.

Indeed so, and that is why Brown’s strategy is paper thin.  He is solely dependent on the recession continuing, not least so he can remain within his comfort zone.  Without the recession he has nothing to say because he is the past not the future.  Brogan continues:

Put this to ministers and they laugh out loud. “Churchill lost because Labour had a vision for the future of a land fit for heroes, and he didn’t,” one says.

Precisely.  Enough said.

In September look out for Brown as he starts wearing three piece suits with a gold chain whilst smoking a cigar.  Let us hope he gets the V sign round the right way.

It is so sad as Brown is obviously deadly serious.