Brown: 'Conviction politician'?

When UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office, he spoke of his admiration for Margaret Thatcher and declared himself a 'conviction politician' like the former Tory prime minister. Two recent episodes call those credentials into question:

• When Brown came to office in 2007, he privately hoped to be in a position to hold a poll in 2008. A positive start tempted him to move earlier and he went to the edge of an election on November 1, 2007, before abandoning the idea.

• The opposition then held up the prime minister as anything but a conviction politician after an income tax change introduced by Brown in his last budget as chancellor in March 2007 -- which only took effect last month -- caused him problems. In order to cut the basic rate from 22-20%, Brown eliminated the 10% tax band, which has had the effect of making some low-income taxpayers poorer. A parliamentary rebellion forced the Brown to pledge to review this policy, but it went down badly with much of Labour's traditional electorate. Brown's decision to fold to would-be rebels was been held up one of the biggest U-turns of his premiership. 

Political puff

These episodes demonstrate the problems of trumpeting one's 'conviction politician' credentials. In fact, the description is an elaborate piece of political puff; no politician worth his salt would claim to be led by anything other than his convictions.

Shamit Ghosh, writing in eGov monitor, says that true conviction politicians adopt policies that they feel are right for pursuing their ideals of where a particular society or country should be. Polly Toynbee adds -- more lyrically -- that leaders should be the embodiment of the policies they stand for. "Their life stories must be the living parable that tells the people where they come from, drawing from their past a graphic narrative of where they are going. Identity and authenticity must personify their ideas."

Deviate from those ideas or bow to media pressure and the 'conviction politician' badge is tarnished. In this case, it may be too late for Brown. His difficulty is to square his claim to be a ‘conviction’ politician with his change of heart over the 10% tax band. The same applies to his decision to allow speculation of a general election to continue last year. Both episodes have damaged his image and lost him the trust of the electorate.

Brown has also had some bad luck, largely owing to a severe reduction in confidence about the economic outlook, compounded by rising food and fuel prices. Yet his perceived lack of conviction has placed him at a disadvantage with regard to three key constituencies within his own party: the left wing, which has never cared for New Labour and its attempts to appeal to middle class England; ultra-Blairites, who have never forgiven Brown for his tense relationship with Tony Blair when he was prime minister; and those in very marginal seats who are less interested in ideology or personalities, but fear losing in 2010.