Gordon Brown is one of the least popular elected leaders of any parliamentary government. Recently public opinion polls estimated his support for prime minister at twenty five percent! This is an all time low.
Brown inherited his position from Tony Blair. He has a dour image and lacks charisma. Blair had the knack of presenting conservative policies with a politically correct feel-good image which appealed to yuppies. Brown has no such appeal. Working class people also realise that Brown is not one of them and his policies represent the ruling class. He gives them no cause for optimism. If, in the unlikely possibility that Labour will be re-elected, Brown has made it clear that ordinary people will continue to suffer. Currently Brown means nothing to nobody.
He is even unpopular amongst Labour parliamentarians who fear losing their seats. They want him to resign for the sake of the party. Brown stays firm and as yet, no one dares to challenge.
There are many reasons for Brown�s unpopularity. Labour has played a reactionary role as lap dog to Bush in his �war on terror�. It was Tony Blair who did the hard yards in the United Nations trying to persuade the world that Iraq led by Saddam had �weapons of mass destruction�. The Blair Dossier was thoroughly and utterly discredited. As has the war on Iraq.
Britain is now thoroughly involved in Afghanistan. With hundreds of British soldiers being brought home in body bags, people are asking why. Some point out that this war is thoroughly and utter immoral, totally unjustified. Others, such as the Tories, argue that Brown is not committing enough. If Britain had more helicopters in operation, troops would be protected and less would die. Brown is in the difficult position, backing the status quo.
Recently in Britain there has been a massive exposure of politicians rorting their electoral allowances. Some of the more serious rorters have been Tory. One has been caught out building a moat at the electorate�s expense. The problem for Brown is that all parties have been exposed. Labour may have been less guilty, but nevertheless they are culpable. The electorate is taking out its anger on both parties. Labor has more to lose because it has more seats.
But the major factor is the economic crisis, the massive recession which has hit the capitalist world. Britain has suffered immensely. Labour has been in office a long time. Voters have every right to point the finger at Labor as a party responsible for this mess. It has no answers apart from bailing out big business. In Brown�s Britain, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Gordon Brown has admitted that he didn�t foresee the recession. This makes him appear incompetent, which he is even, though the Tories also didn�t foresee it. He blundered again by claiming the world was in depression and not merely recession.
Britain faces mass unemployment. Brown promises a programme of public works which he claims will deliver 200,000 jobs on projects such as improving public housing. The problem is that it is predicted that next year, in 2010, unemployment will reach three million. Brown�s efforts are therefore insignificant.
Like Rudd in Australia, Brown has increased the pension age. This will mean more suffering.
The suffering has been immense. To quote The Guardian: �Britain under Gordon Brown is a more unequal country than at any time since modern records began in the early sixties, after the incomes of the poor fell and those of the rich rose after the 2005 general election. Deprivation and inequality rose in the UK rose for the third successive year in 2007-08�. Is it any wonder that currently, according to opinion polls, Labour�s support is down to eighteen percent?!!
To be fair, the 2009 Budget does mainly attack the wealthy. However, this is probably a case of too little, too late. Everyone expects the Tories to win. They have been handed power on a platter. Partly this is due to the British Left�s failure to build a political alternative to Labour.
Liberal Democrat support is on the increase. It is now 18%, the same as Labour.
Another party making headway is the British National Party who won two seats in the European parliament. This is an ominous sign. The BNP is, of course, fascist. This means it is a potentially deadly threat to the workers' movement. They have a degree of limited success because the workers' movement has been exposed as bankrupt and weak. The threat will remain unless we deal with the fascists physically and nip them in the bud. There must be no platform for fascists. Workers' defence is urgently needed.
ALP/ACTU Unity! Workers pay the price!
There is no denying that the Rudd Labor government is a right-wing government. Rudd would object if it was suggested otherwise! He boasts his �economic conservative� credentials.
Of course, the far right point out inconsistencies -- his high spending solution to the recession leading to debt which future generations will be forced to pay. Rudd counters by claiming his stimulus saved Australia from recession. He says that these measures are for exceptional times when government intervention was needed to save the system. But basically, on every issue, Rudd passes the test.
Rudd goes all the way with Barak Obama in the war in Afghanistan. They agree on other issues such as Israel. Rudd has continued the Federal intervention into the Northern Territory effectively placing communities under martial law. He opposes the right of gay people to marry. He has continued work for the dole and the private job network agency system.
Whilst abolishing WorkChoices, Julia Gillard threatens building workers �with the full force of the law� should they attempt industrial action to win back what was lost under Howard!
All this is thoroughly and utterly horrendous. Rudd threatens to jail workers yet the ACTU remains loyal! Workers pay money for their union to be affiliated to this reactionary party. They are hardly getting anything for it. Very much to the contrary! Rudd is committed to make the workers pay. The ACTU is committed to discipline so Rudd can stay in office.
There was only one issue which caused any serious dispute. The unions demand preference for Australian companies. This Rudd objected to, complaining that protection maintained inefficiency. However, a compromise was worked out. Rudd promised to subsidise Australian companies to make them competitive.
So all became rosy. All this reflects the thorough and utter degeneration of the so-called Labor �Left� and the trade union bureaucracy.
Federal Labor administers Australian capitalism at the expense of working people. The trade union bureaucracy co-operates fully. Unionists suffer.