Reading Gordon's Rhetoric

It is curious how the words of Gordon Brown can reveal so much about his deeply warped world view. Today, we can see him pontificating on MPs expenses:

On expenses, he says for the first time that he believes the worst offenders should face prosecution.

Really? The worst offenders? Or how about anyone who has broken the law, regardless of whether they are the "worst" offenders or not? Or what if none of them actually broke this hideous law? Should we throw a couple into court anyway? Gordon doesn't seem to understand that people should face prosecution if they have broken the law. Anything else is just a perversion of justice.

"It’s right to distinguish between what you might call corruption in some cases, which is for the courts to decide, and honest mistakes or misunderstandings about rules that are very unclear."

Yes, because the state is always so happy to distinguish between corruption and honest mistakes made by the British public. If you make a mistake on your taxes, for example, then you are treated with kindness and understanding by the authorities.

And Brown seems to be suffering one of his convenient memory lapses when it comes to the facts; MPs knew the rules were unclear - they were the ones who created, maintained and "adhered" to them. If they were so unclear, then why the fuck didn't MPs do something about it? They could; they had the power. Their decision not to speaks volumes about how they felt about the rules that allowed them to milk the public purse.

"Some cases will end up in the courts. Where someone’s done something very wrong, we’ve got a duty to deal with them most severely."

No, Gordon. No. You are not the judge and jury of everything that happens in this country. You have a duty to leave justice to the courts, and they can decide a punishment - if someone is found guilty - that fits the crime.

"The majority of MPs are not in it for the money."

Really? Their lust for opulence at the expense of the taxpayer would suggest otherwise.

"I’m not in it for the money; most of my colleagues are not."

I seem to remember that Gordon himself had some dubious expenses claims, but it is good to see that he isn't in it for the money. The money is just a perk on the side, that he is happy to take for you as he "serves" your best interests.

Fuck me, I'd almost rather Gordon and the other leeches were in it for the money. It would show marginally more respect than talking about how they're not after the money but take it anyway.

"But where people have made terrible mistakes, they have to accept the consequences."

Erm, do you mean where people have committed crimes they have to accept the consequences? Or just if they have made mistakes? Because it appears than in his long and utterly malignant career Brown has made many, many mistakes. Something tells me he won't be accepting the consequences for those - at least not until the next election, when the electorate will make him face up to what he has done.

This interview sums up Gordon Brown perfectly - he wants to take complete control over anything that is in anyway populist (like prosecuting corrupt MPs), but don't ever expect him to take responsibility for anything that might have gone wrong. He's not going to take control of that - he's going to run away from it just as fast as his flabby body will let him.