Gordon Brown
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:20 am
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... w_24092006
Brown vows to change way Britain is governed
By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor
(Filed: 24/09/2006)
Gordon Brown today commits himself to a "new politics" and a change in the way that Britain is governed, in a radical personal manifesto for the leadership of the Labour Party.
The Chancellor believes that the Government "still has lessons to learn", more than nine years after Tony Blair entered Downing Street, and must be more accountable to both Parliament and the public.
His comments, in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph on the eve of the Labour Party conference in Manchester, will be seen as an attack on Mr Blair, with whom he admits to having had "ups and downs".
Only days before the Prime Minister's farewell conference speech as Labour leader, the Chancellor – still the strong favourite to succeed Mr Blair – would only characterise their relationship as "a pretty effective partnership".
"We need a new way of communicating with the public," he said. "We need, if you like, a new politics, and that means also changing the way we govern.
"It means more accountability both to Parliament and the public. It means more transparency about how decisions are taken. And it means, wherever you can, taking power out of the hands of the executive ¦ I've learned a lot from what we've done in the Treasury and there are lessons we can learn for the future government of the country."
The Chancellor's insistence that there are lessons to be learned and his plans for wholesale changes are likely to anger Mr Blair and his supporters as they suggest that Mr Brown believes the Prime Minister has made major errors during his nine years in charge.
Significantly, Mr Brown also appeared to distance himself from Mr Blair's unstinting support for President George W Bush. Asked if he would be as close to Mr Bush as Mr Blair, the Chancellor replied: "I would hope I would have a strong relationship with all world leaders, including the President of America."
The Chancellor spoke to The Sunday Telegraph on a whistle-stop trip to New York last week. He indicated that he would sweep away Mr Blair's "sofa" style of government, in which decisions are taken by a small clique of advisers, and the spin and sleaze rows that have dogged the Prime Minister's time in office.
In their place would come a return to Cabinet government, a greater role for Parliament and a wholesale devolution of powers in providing public services that are likely to see politicians losing day-to-day control in a wide range of areas, including the NHS.
The plans could also see the abolition of an entire ministry, the Department for Trade and Industry.
His officials later suggested that Mr Brown was also studying plans to give Britain its first written constitution, a document that would enshrine the roles of monarchy, government, parliament and judiciary, as well as the legal rights of citizens.
Mr Brown, who was born in Fife, also pledged that, if he became Labour leader, he would "stick up for -middle Britain" against "narrow nationalism in Scotland".
Surprisingly, he also held out an olive branch to his fiercest Blairite critics, the former Cabinet ministers Stephen Byers and Alan Milburn. Asked whether they had a future under him, he answered: "Of course. All people who've got an interest in the future have got a right to be considered for office."
On the timing of Mr Blair's departure, a bone of contention for Labour, he stuck simply to his line that it was for the Prime Minister to "decide what he wants to do and I will support him in doing that".
It was in his plans for changes in the way Britain was governed, however, that his strongest policy ideas came. He insisted that these were not designed to be a direct attack on the Blair years, but instead were meant to address problems that increased "over the last 20 or 30 years".
Mr Brown intends to use as a model for reform his decision in 1997 to give operational independence to the Bank of England in setting interest rates. He sees a future in which politicians set the broad strategic policy for a public service, and civil servants, or independent outsiders, deliver what is needed.
"It means the devolution of power from central government to local communities and to individuals," he said. "It means, wherever you can, separating out the business of setting policy, which is for politicians, and the business of implementation and administration, which should be done by civil servants, the public services or in some cases external bodies like the Bank of England, without political interference."
Mr Brown will make his speech to the conference, which he hopes will be his last before becoming prime minister, tomorrow followed by Mr Blair on Tuesday. The signs are, however, that Mr Blair will still not give a definite date for his departure or endorse Mr Brown as his successor.
The Chancellor defined the "main challenges" facing Britain as "security and terrorism, stability and global competition, strong cohesive communities and how they can be built and sustained".
In a separate interview, for The Politics Show on BBC1 today, Mr Brown opens up another front against Mr Blair by suggesting that he would curb the Prime Minister's drive for a bigger role for private companies in the NHS.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.
Brown vows to change way Britain is governed
By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor
(Filed: 24/09/2006)
Gordon Brown today commits himself to a "new politics" and a change in the way that Britain is governed, in a radical personal manifesto for the leadership of the Labour Party.
The Chancellor believes that the Government "still has lessons to learn", more than nine years after Tony Blair entered Downing Street, and must be more accountable to both Parliament and the public.
His comments, in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph on the eve of the Labour Party conference in Manchester, will be seen as an attack on Mr Blair, with whom he admits to having had "ups and downs".
Only days before the Prime Minister's farewell conference speech as Labour leader, the Chancellor – still the strong favourite to succeed Mr Blair – would only characterise their relationship as "a pretty effective partnership".
"We need a new way of communicating with the public," he said. "We need, if you like, a new politics, and that means also changing the way we govern.
"It means more accountability both to Parliament and the public. It means more transparency about how decisions are taken. And it means, wherever you can, taking power out of the hands of the executive ¦ I've learned a lot from what we've done in the Treasury and there are lessons we can learn for the future government of the country."
The Chancellor's insistence that there are lessons to be learned and his plans for wholesale changes are likely to anger Mr Blair and his supporters as they suggest that Mr Brown believes the Prime Minister has made major errors during his nine years in charge.
Significantly, Mr Brown also appeared to distance himself from Mr Blair's unstinting support for President George W Bush. Asked if he would be as close to Mr Bush as Mr Blair, the Chancellor replied: "I would hope I would have a strong relationship with all world leaders, including the President of America."
The Chancellor spoke to The Sunday Telegraph on a whistle-stop trip to New York last week. He indicated that he would sweep away Mr Blair's "sofa" style of government, in which decisions are taken by a small clique of advisers, and the spin and sleaze rows that have dogged the Prime Minister's time in office.
In their place would come a return to Cabinet government, a greater role for Parliament and a wholesale devolution of powers in providing public services that are likely to see politicians losing day-to-day control in a wide range of areas, including the NHS.
The plans could also see the abolition of an entire ministry, the Department for Trade and Industry.
His officials later suggested that Mr Brown was also studying plans to give Britain its first written constitution, a document that would enshrine the roles of monarchy, government, parliament and judiciary, as well as the legal rights of citizens.
Mr Brown, who was born in Fife, also pledged that, if he became Labour leader, he would "stick up for -middle Britain" against "narrow nationalism in Scotland".
Surprisingly, he also held out an olive branch to his fiercest Blairite critics, the former Cabinet ministers Stephen Byers and Alan Milburn. Asked whether they had a future under him, he answered: "Of course. All people who've got an interest in the future have got a right to be considered for office."
On the timing of Mr Blair's departure, a bone of contention for Labour, he stuck simply to his line that it was for the Prime Minister to "decide what he wants to do and I will support him in doing that".
It was in his plans for changes in the way Britain was governed, however, that his strongest policy ideas came. He insisted that these were not designed to be a direct attack on the Blair years, but instead were meant to address problems that increased "over the last 20 or 30 years".
Mr Brown intends to use as a model for reform his decision in 1997 to give operational independence to the Bank of England in setting interest rates. He sees a future in which politicians set the broad strategic policy for a public service, and civil servants, or independent outsiders, deliver what is needed.
"It means the devolution of power from central government to local communities and to individuals," he said. "It means, wherever you can, separating out the business of setting policy, which is for politicians, and the business of implementation and administration, which should be done by civil servants, the public services or in some cases external bodies like the Bank of England, without political interference."
Mr Brown will make his speech to the conference, which he hopes will be his last before becoming prime minister, tomorrow followed by Mr Blair on Tuesday. The signs are, however, that Mr Blair will still not give a definite date for his departure or endorse Mr Brown as his successor.
The Chancellor defined the "main challenges" facing Britain as "security and terrorism, stability and global competition, strong cohesive communities and how they can be built and sustained".
In a separate interview, for The Politics Show on BBC1 today, Mr Brown opens up another front against Mr Blair by suggesting that he would curb the Prime Minister's drive for a bigger role for private companies in the NHS.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.