Pity Poor Gordon!

Gordon Brown:

"I could present our message a lot better. I'm actually shy by nature rather than extrovert, someone who feels that your actions should speak for themselves, but that's not the way politics works these days."

I have some sympathy with him here. I'm not an extrovert either, and am often shy in social interactions. Yet I'd throw in a couple of caveats here. First of all, I think that if people have issues with Gordo (and, let's be honest, they really do) then it has little to do with his shyness. The issues are more around his astounding arrogance and absolute disrespect for any opinion other than his own. And secondly, Gordon is right that this is way politics works today. But who has been at the centre of British politics for over 12 years and has done nothing to change that culture? Why, Gordon Brown. All he has done is insulated himself from that culture - and from the country he is meant to be leading - through his Downing Street bubble of toadying acolytes. Don't bemoan the system when you have been in a position for over a decade to change that system.

Moving on to the second bid by the Prime Minister to tug on the old heartstrings:

Mr Brown went on to say that he himself had "very little money", adding: "It's very expensive being prime minister. I gave up my prime ministerial pension that would be worth around £2 million, but on my first day in office I gave it up.

"And my salary is frozen. And I don't want our ministers to take any rise in salaries either."

Well, he chose to give up that pension. Whether the PM warrants a £2 million pension is a debate I'm not proposing to have here, but Gordon decided to give it up. You can argue that was admirable or foolish. However, it was Gordon's choice. And stating you have "very little money" is open to wide interpretation - after all, what constitutes very little money is relative to what one's financial expectations are.

Still, this is all a bid to create Honest Gordon, friend of the people. As further comments show even more clearly:

Responding to allegations the expenses scandal "made you all out to be a bunch of corrupt spivs", Mr Brown said: "Yes, and that's very hurtful. I have never tried to make any money out of being a politician."

Of course it is hurtful to be called a "corrupt spiv". But Brown would get more sympathy from most quarters if he hadn't had to pay back £12,415 as a result of the expenses scandal. Either Gordon was trying to make money out of being a politician or he was exceptionally negligent when it came to making his expenses claims. Either explanation doesn't make a great case for him continuing as the Prime Minister of this country.

Which is the problem; Gordon's problems are either of his own making or down to things that he could have changed during his time as a senior politician in and then leader of the ruling party. His desperate attempts to evoke sympathy are doomed to failure because, fundamentally, he has been the master of his own destiny and what he is experiencing today is entirely of his own making.