Brown unlikely to fit the bill of PM
A former adviser to US President Bill Clinton has said a Labour party led by Gordon Brown may fail to win the hearts and minds of the British people at election time.
Dick Morris, an American psephologist and advisor to the UK Independence Party, said that although the Chancellor of the Exchequer was clearly popular among party rank and file, his particular brand of left of centre politics would be a turn off for many Britons.
The Chancellor has been promised the leadership by the Prime Minister when Tony Blair stands down.
Comparing battles in Westminster with those across the pond, he told Epolitix.com that Howard Dean was likely to win the Democratic presidential nomination next year but would lose out in a contest with George W Bush.
Mr Brown for his part was a British Howard Dean and was beginning to fit that bill.
Things were also bleak for the Tories’ newly elected leader Michael Howard, who was unlikely to emulate President Bush’s success at the polls.
Mr Morris said whilst Bush “clearly stands for things” with “clear and aggressive views on important issues,” Mr Howard’s policies, apart from on European issues, were full of all kinds of “ifs and buts.”
Mr Howard was more like Bob Dole, “the consensus leader that doesn’t articulate strong policies and fails.”
