Gordon Brown fails to understand Caroline Flint

That Gordon Brown is misogynistic should come as a surprise to precisely no-one. Although I do belief his hatred of others is genuinely an area of equal opportunity - he is misanthropic, and as a result hates both men and women equally. Yet when I hear Caroline Flint whining about how Gordon didn't treat her well, I find myself in the almost unbearable and completely unfamiliar position of feeling a need to defend the Prime Minister.

Take this statement from Flint:

"For one reason or another I don't think he trusted me and we never got a chance to really get to develop our relationship."

Given how things ended between Brown and Flint, I reckon him failing to trust her was a rare example of good judgment on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Moving on:

"I don't think he really knows me and what makes me tick."

I'm sorry, but what is this supposed to mean? Was Gordon meant to be a psychotherapist? Or a considerate, understanding lover? Why should he have to get to know Flint? Why would he work out what makes her "tick"? He was her boss, for God's sake - and the Prime Minister of a nation. He has other things to do that probably take priority over getting to know what makes the people who work for him "tick". 

There's a case to be made for more women in power in British Politics, and there's a urgent need to overcome many of the stereotypes of women in the workplace. However, whatever Flint's intentions, she utterly fails to deal with either issue when she makes comments like the ones above. In fact, she achieves the opposite - she plays up to the stereotype of a needy woman in the workplace; someone who can't get on with their job unless their boss understands them and builds up a personal connection. 

Flint's words do nothing to further undermine the leader she has lost all faith in, and do nothing to advance the idea that there should be more women in Brown's Cabinet. In fact, all they do is further build up the idea that Flint was not fit to be in the Cabinet. Nothing to do with her gender, though. Her lack of suitability is clearly just down to her attitude. 

On Caroline Flint

Some are praising Flint's resignation to the rafters, and whilst I'm pretty much pro anything that embarrasses Gordon Brown and makes his position less tenable, I'd add a couple of words of warning about getting too excited about Flint's departure.

First of all, it comes very soon after she backed Brown. Now, maybe she had a sudden change of heart but generally if you are going to resign from something, it is best just to fucking do it. It is Clare Short Syndrome - if you resign about the war after you have backed the war, then your point is somewhat lost. Likewise, if you back Brown then moments later resign because of him, you don't look that decisive and therefore undermines what you are trying to say. 

And let's take a look at her reasons for leaving government:

"You have a two-tier government. Your inner circle and then the remainder of cabinet."

Yep, Brown does. But so does every Prime Minister. Hence the ongoing, tedious talk of kitchen Cabinets, inner circles, and an increasingly Presidential influence on British Politics. It may not be ideal, but it is a fact of life that every Prime Minister since Harold Wilson (the first time round) has had an inner circle. And isn't it strange how those who are in the inner circle don't complain about it, whilst those on the outside stamp their feet because they aren't allowed to play with the cool kids?

Moving on:

"Several of the women attending cabinet - myself included - have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing"

Now, this charge - which does sound about right - could stick, and could really hurt Brown. But I do wonder what Flint was expecting from the Labour Party. After all, this isn't the first time that Labour women have been used as window dressing. You can go right back to 1997 and see the casual embracing by the Labour party of the concept of "Blair's Babes" to see that the Labour party has no compunction about manipulating gender issues to grab a cheap headline. Caroline Flint has only just twigged she was being used as window dressing by the boorish Gordon Brown. Most other people clocked that a long time ago.

Which is the key point. Those leaving the Cabinet seem to have suddenly woken up to the idea that Gordon Brown is an incapable, unlovable twat who deserves absolutely no support whatsoever. Which is great, but leaves them far, far behind the rest of the country. And whilst their comments about how dreadful Brown is may be wonderfully amusing for Brown haters everywhere, it does beg the question of why they agreed to serve with Brown - an unelected Prime Minister who grabbed power from a savvy political operator who won Labour three elections - in the first place.

So congratulations to Flint, Purnell and Blears. Well the fuck done. You've just worked out that Brown is an incompetent, socially awkward elitist moron who has just driven your party into the ground. The rest of us clocked that a long time ago. So I look forward to that trio - and any others who have just hit on the idea that Brown is a rancid cock of a man - working out some other basic facts that occurred to the rest of us a long time ago. Like the idea that the Labour party is dead in the water, and that Labour policies really aren't the way forward...