Tuesday August 28th: The honeymoon is over. Gordon may, politically speaking, be sleeping on the sofa after his first fall-out with his back benchers. The tiff is over a motion on council housing, which The Independent believes could be "controversial". It is being said that Gordon is trying to marginalise any issues which might otherwise disrupt the dream Party Conference that he's had in his head all these years. Takes the stage to a standing ovation that lasts 10 minutes. Brian May guitar solo. Pyrotechinc display. Big screen shows his highlight reel. Female party members throw their underwear at him. Old skool beat drops. Teaches everyone how to do The Brown Bounce.
Perhaps it could end up like Tony Blair's speech to the W.I. - the fixed grin did little to convince the world that he wasn't utterly terrified of the blue-rinsed legions in front of him. Weakness. George Bush would have had the lot of them rounded up and shipped to Camp X-Ray, quick time. They would have been making jam in Guantanamo Bay before the day's end.
"I think they willl have to pull back," said John McDonnell - chairman of the Socialist Campaign Group of MP's, "this is the last vestige of democracy in the party." And therein lies the problem. The Prime Minister may have misjudged the mood, what with all the approval ratings and opinion polls. Just because the press writes nice things about you, doesn't mean you're well liked. It just means they haven't found anything bad out. Yet. I'm sure he thought his first party conference as leader would be a game of 'Gordon Says', but he may find himself disappointed. Only one way to get around this Gordon. Dictatorship. You know you've daydreamed about it. Sitting in your office with a cup of coffee and looking out on the Thames. I know you imagined branding your stamp of authority on the country while using Blair as a footrest. You've seen the Queen's House, right? I know you thought about how big it is and how small Number 10 is by comparison. It would be a quick coup. If you started by mid-morning, you would be done by 7ish. It could even be bloodless if they were smart enough not to struggle and to accept you on bended knee as their lord and master...
Anyway - Gordon has been allegedly been getting leverage on the union bosses, by promising to surpass the proposed 2% pay increase they're expecting next year. Sitting down to talk numbers with Gordon is like sitting down to discuss raw meat with a lion while wearing a pair of haute couture plus fours made out of pork. If you get into that conversation, he'll blind you with science. By the time you come out of that meeting room, he would have convinced you that you have to pay him to go to work. Oh wait, they already did that. They called it tax.
Add to the back bench insubordination, Gordon's unwillingness to draw up a timetable for British forces withdrawal for Iraq and the growing pressure for an EU referendum, it looks like the Gordon's shine might be starting to fade. Damn. It was all good just a week ago...
Prince has been laying low for the past couple of days, save for another celebrity review in The Telegraph of Saturday's show. Hilary Alexander loved it. Gordon's unsettled Bank Holiday weekend may provide Mr. Nelson with the opening he needed to sneak into the lead....
