Sunday 10 January 2010

The desire for revenge

I had to smile when I read Iain Dale's promotions for his publication of Peter Watt's account of his treatment by Gordon Brown during the party's funding problems. Iain says "the great thing about the book is that it doesn't read as though it is motivated by any desire for revenge." There is surely no other reason why this book would appear so close to a general election, and the Mail on Sunday extract doesn't exactly pull its punches when it comes to getting back at those whom Peter feels (with some justification) treated him shabbily, though its publication is regrettable. I have enjoyed working for politicians who made a point of looking after and caring about those who worked for them, and their families. The failure to provide enough such support in this case has clearly come at a high price.

1 comment:

AD627 said...

"There is surely no other reason why this book would appear so close to a general election"

Rubbish. It's appearing now because it's ready now.

Let's face it, there is no way Dale would have delayed its publication to get it closer to a general election, since it would have been quite possible that Brown would have been overthrown and replaced as Labour leader, robbing the book of much of its relevance.

If Brown had any guts, the election would have been ages ago and he might well have won it.