"Britain can be fixed – but not by a PM who wants to save the world"

Thank God Simon Heffer is away! We now have the definitive article by Irwin Steltzer in the Daily Telegraph which shows why Brown and his abysmal government should be sent into oblivion at the first whiff of a general election or a challenge to his so-called leadership, whichever is the sooner.

I could copy the whole article but a few key quotations should tempt you to read it yourself and wonder why Seltzer has just got around to launching this devasting critique of a man who he routinely used to praise as having a great intellect.

"The country would benefit if Gordon Brown spent some years in the wilderness and returned as an elder statesman."

"It is a pity that Gordon Brown has decided to substitute truculence for calm reason when confronted by his critics. For my guess is that when the history of the Brown era is written, he will realise that his defensiveness; his unwillingness to admit a single error; his dishonest effort to paint the Tories as a do-nothing party, despite the fact that some of their ideas were so sound that he filched them, detracted from his real accomplishments."

"Soon after stepping into Tony Blair's shoes, Brown travelled to America to meet George W. Bush. The Prime Minister managed to insult the President by keeping his distance, refusing to reciprocate when praised, and scorning the President's gift of a bomber jacket. All to appease his Left, which was anyhow irritated with him for consorting with the hated Texan warmonger."

"Then there was the Lisbon Treaty. Break an electoral promise to hold a referendum, and sign the unpopular document. But not in the full glare of television lights or within the sound of popping champagne corks; sneak down and sign Britain on as if no one would notice so long as the pomp and ceremony were avoided. Result: furious European allies, already irked at Brown's habit of taking off his headphones at meetings when they were saying their piece, and angry voters who had been denied the promised referendum. Brown's decision to write books that admire the courage of others only highlighted his lack of it."

"This recession will end: there is indeed boom and bust, or with proper reforms, ups and downs. That's why we call it the business cycle. Brown will be remembered for his refusal to accept any responsibility for the prior period of excessive credit and undetected excesses in the financial sector, for his insistence that his blameless management of the economy had been nullified by the Americans, for some ineffectual anti-recession measures such as the cut in VAT, and for the genuine accomplishment of preventing a complete collapse of the banking system."

"Brown's legacy will also include a bloated public sector that has reduced portions of the country to complete dependence on public-sector jobs, and that will so burden the wealth-creating private sector that economic growth will be stunted for decades to come."

Please read the whole article and then take a deep breath. You know Stelzer is right but do you really want Brown to re-emerge as an elder statesman? Given the choice I'd rather bury him in a lead lined box about 20 feet down in the Kirkcaldy graveyard with a precautionary stake through his heart. But I'm prepared to show leniency as long as he never again appears on a TV screen near me!