Gordon Brown - Best when boldest

Jun 4 2008 by Rob Merrick, Liverpool Daily Post

GORDON BROWN is like a football manager whose team is 2-0 down with 20 minutes to go – but who still leaves his star strikers on the bench.

The Prime Minister is staring defeat in the face, but refuses to abandon the cautious, plodding style – packing the defence and midfield, if you like – that took him to the top.

Last month's draft Queen's Speech set out Mr Brown's worthy-but-dull legislative plans through to summer next year, but the crowd, judging from the polls, are booing from the terraces.

If, as I argued last week, Labour is stuck with its unpopular leader, he must rip up his defensive tactics and attack – before the final whistle blows in May, 2010.

My emergency manifesto would look like this:

* A “windfall tax” on the predicted £9bn profits of energy companies to slash fuel bills – the only way to rescue a pledge to end fuel poverty by 2010;

* A levy on wealthy estates to fund care for all elderly people, to prevent them having to sell their homes – the biggest heartache for the growing numbers of pensioners;

* High-speed North-South rail lines – a long-overdue boost to the North's economy. It is a scandal that the only such line links London to France;

* A 50% tax rate on earnings over £100,000 to fund free – and popular – services for all under-18s, such as entry to swimming pools and bus and train travel;

* Save countless billions by scrapping ID cards – no-one wants them and experts agree they serve no purpose;

* A switch to the “Alternative Vote” system, making more seats competitive by allowing voters to rank candidates 1,2,3, etc – dare the Tories to oppose its greater fairness.

Now, the Prime Minister must be sick of advice – much of it better than mine – but the crucial point is that he needs some dramatic changes to rescue his premiership.

Mr Brown's position of near-certain doom – plus two years with a healthy Commons majority – gives him rare and wonderful freedom to do whatever he likes. He has nothing to lose.

He should adopt the slogan of the ex-Chancellor who said "Lab- our – best when we are boldest". That speaker was Gordon Brown.

AMONG those at Sir Paul McCartney's unforgettable Anfield show was the only Cabinet minister to have made a pop record – Health Secretary Alan Johnson.

Sadly, for the ex-guitarist with 60s band The Area – who insists: "I would rather be in music than politics" – no label would release their debut single, Hard Life. Then his amp was nicked and he became a postman.