MEMORIES OF Margaret Thatcher in victory and defeat taunted British prime minister Gordon Brown yesterday amid renewed speculation about his leadership.
Conservative leader David Cameron used the 30th anniversary of Thatcher’s arrival in 10 Downing Street to draw the comparison between the current crisis facing Britain and the conditions she inherited from a failing Labour government in 1979.
Various eulogies to the Thatcher era also reminded Mr Brown that it ended tearfully in a cabinet coup – this as deputy leader Harriet Harman maintained that ministers will not try to force the prime minister’s resignation following Labour’s expected drubbing in next month’s European and local elections.
Obliged to again deny suggestions that she sees herself as a possible successor, Ms Harman insisted her greatest ambition was to be and to remain Mr Brown’s “loyal and supportive deputy”. Seeking to quash revived talk of a final, desperate heave against Mr Brown in the summer, Ms Harman even asserted she did not want to be prime minister and went so far as to rule herself out as a candidate should a vacancy occur.
Asked on the BBC’s Today programme if she would seek the leadership in that event, Ms Harman replied: “No . . . I am saying there are no circumstances . . . I do not want to be prime minister, I do not want to be leader of the party.”
Pressed on BBC Breakfast if she was really saying she would not ever want to be leader, Ms Harman again declared: “That is what I am saying. My ambition has been . . . to run and win the deputy leadership in order to be a loyal and supportive deputy to Gordon, and that is what I am doing.”
Ms Harman’s latest pledge of loyalty came after her office dismissed as “rubbish” a Daily Telegraph report that she would block the “coronation” of any “unity” candidate and stand for the leadership should Mr Brown be forced out.
That report followed weekend claims that nervous Labour MPs are again considering health secretary Alan Johnson as the man most likely to at least contain the scale of a feared general election defeat in the coming year.
Mr Johnson delivered his own robust defence of Mr Brown on Sunday, describing him as “a man for these times” and the best qualified to lead Labour into the election. Mr Johnson also candidly reminded people that his ambition had also been to win the deputy leadership, “and I couldn’t even get that”.
Speculation about his disposition continued, however, with ministerial colleagues said to be surprised that Mr Johnson had not ruled out a leadership bid in all circumstances.
“I am not saying there’s no circumstances,” he replied, when asked if he might launch a leadership bid.
The renewed focus on Mr Johnson was also fuelled by cabinet colleague Hazel Blears’ shock attack on the government’s “lamentable” failure to communicate and her apparent mockery of Mr Brown’s widely ridiculed appearance on YouTube.
Ms Blears was apparently surprised and upset on finding her outspoken comments taken as criticism of the prime minister. But the general mood was reflected in the comment of one minister quoted in the London Times saying: “She’s telling everyone it was not malicious. Well, if it was not malicious it was bloody inept.”
Mr Cameron, meanwhile, again tried to foster the sense of Mr Brown’s authority ebbing away in his letter paying tribute to Mrs Thatcher’s “awe-inspiring” achievements as prime minister.
“Getting the country to live within its means, bringing the trade unions within the law, rolling back the tide of state ownership, standing steadfast with our allies in the Cold War . . . but above all giving the people back their pride and self-belief. The whole country owes you a huge debt,” he told her.
The man who once thought himself more “heir to Blair” continued: “It is with huge trepidation that I attempt, 30 years on, to get rid of an exhausted Labour government and start the process of mending the national finances and tackling some deep and entrenched problems that we face.
“If we are elected as the next government I know it will be extremely difficult work – but in your life and your work you have given us all an example of real courage to follow.”