Brown comes out fighting by Finance News Bulletin
Published: 04/01/08
No one on the Tory benches believed their take part in an election of no confidence in Gordon Brown would get anything other than an irresistible thumbs downIf one thing is guaranteed to unite a divided and warring Labour social gathering it is just such a Tory confront to one of their big hittersSo, with a enormous government majority and even Mr Brown's worst Labour enemies determined not to give the Tories any succour, particularly in the run up to local elections, the result was always a foregone conclusionBut that, of course, was not the Tories' point
The aim was to revitalize a 10-year-old row over pensions which, they believe, can tarnish the chancellor's evidence and undermine him even before he becomes prime minister, as still expected, in a few weeks' timeThe fact that, before this unusual movement was tabled, some of Mr Brown's Labour detractors were privately whipping up the controversy over the rule added to David Cameron's computation he could do some real damage with this debateAnd there have been some signs that groups of pensioners do indeed have a bone to choose with Mr chocolate over the policy which, they believe, has destroyed their pensionsThe arguments have been well rehearsed over the past few weeks, even existence, but shadow chancellor George Osborne was not going to allow that stop him
The "raid" on pension money had been a con, had devastated the money leaving Britain with the most horrible system in Europe and been done in the face of bureaucrat advice warning him of the penalty, he told the CommonsAnd the Conservative party went all out on this anti-Brown campaign, even producing a ridicule newspaper, imaginatively called The Moon, to hand out to hurry hour commuters at train stations around the state, and declaring "Gordon chocolate ate my pension"Back in the Commons, as Mr Osborne repeated his demand for an admission of guilt from the Chancellor, Mr Brown sat smiling, even laughing at his conflicting numberHe supposed he relished the debate and needed to give the shadow chancellor "an teaching" in the facts because he had made some essential errors in his arguments
He did his best to play the large fist swatting aside the irritating gnat And in the only party political atmosphere generated by the nature of the debate, Labour MPs were delighted to consider in behind their manSo, at the end of the day, this debate has probably done little to injure Mr Brown's chances of succeeding Mr Blair - which had already in use a increase from David Miliband's insistence he would not be standingBut it did give a glimpse of the kind of fights that lie ahead and the Tories will expect they inflicted a few stone chips on Mr Brown's novel pre-leadership
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