Best For Britain?: The Politics and Legacy of Gordon Brown

325 Pages·2008·1.137 MB·English

by  Simon Lee

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BEST FOR BRITAIN?
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BEST FOR BRITAIN?
The Politics and Legacy
of Gordon Brown
SIMON LEE
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A Oneworld Book
Published by Oneworld Publications 2008
Copyright © Simon Lee 2008
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available
from the British Library
ISBN 978–1–85168–537–0
Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India
Cover design by eDigital Design
Printed and bound in Great Britain
by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn
Oneworld Publications
185 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 7AR
England
www.oneworld-publications.com
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For my father, Norman Arthur Lee,
with love and thanks
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Contents
Preface xi
Introduction 1
Electoral asset or liability? 1
A ‘psychologically flawed’ politician? 3
PartI: Gordon Brown’s Political Philosophy
1. From Supply-Side Socialism to Supply-Side Liberalism 13
Winning the battle of ideas 13
Winning the battle of ideas: setting the agenda for
modernisation 14
Resolving the progressive dilemma 16
Phase one: Brown’s ethical and parliamentary socialism 21
Phase two: supply-side socialism 25
Phase three: from supply-side socialism to supply-side
liberalism 30
The politics of potential 32
The triumph of the technocratic over the ethical 35
2. The New British Enlightenment 41
The Liberal Century 43
Gordon Brown’s moral sense: ‘The best head and the best heart’ 45
Sympathetic Liberalism: claiming Adam Smith for the Left 47
The re-moralisation of Britain 50
Civic society and the moral limits of markets 53
Brown’s common ground with the New Right 57
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viii Contents
PartII: Gordon Brown’s Domestic Policy Agenda
3. The British Model of Political Economy 69
The role of the Treasury 71
Devising the ‘British Model’: the role of Ed Balls 73
Learning the lessons of the past 76
Empowering the Treasury through ‘constrained discretion’ 78
The ‘British model’ of monetary policy 80
The ‘British model’ of fiscal policy 83
The triumph of the City 90
The supply-side failure 93
The risk of volatility and contagion: the myth of
locked-in stability 95
A legacy of private imprudence, debt and inequality 97
4. Reforming the Public Services: The Nationalisation
of Policy Design and Resource Allocation 103
Brown’s constrained discretion versus Blair’s earned autonomy 106
The permanent revolution of constrained discretion 108
The Spending Reviews and Public Service Agreements 110
Helping markets work better: Gordon Brown on public services 113
The legacy of constrained discretion 119
Personalised public services: the agenda for the
Brown Government 121
Balancing personal aspirations and public expectations
with resources 125

5. The British Way of Identity and Citizenship 132
The British Way: liberty for all, responsibility from all,
fairness to all 133
A matter of political asymmetry 136
The negation of citizenship in England 138
The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Question 140
The flaws of the British Way 143
The conflation of England with Britain 145
Brown’s ingratiation of the sporting English 149
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Contents ix
PartIII: Gordon Brown’s Foreign Policy Agenda
6. New Atlanticism: The New Deal for Global Governance 159
Making globalisation work for all 159
The New Atlanticism 162
A Global New Deal through a modern Marshall Plan 165
A pillar of the Establishment 168
The International Finance Facility 169
The Commission for Africa 172
The legacy of the Gleneagles G8 Summit 173
Renewing the ‘special relationship’ in the age of interdependence 177
The battle for hearts and minds 179
7. Global Europe: Convergence Towards the British Model 183
The lessons of ‘Black Wednesday’ 186
The ‘Five Tests’ (plus two) 189
The politics of ‘pro-European realism’ 192
Convergence towards the British model 196
Global Britain, Global Europe 199
Global Europe and the 2005 United Kingdom EU presidency 203
The supra-national priorities for a Brown Government 207
8. Conclusion 212
Gordon Brown’s economic legacy 214
Gordon Brown’s political inheritance 219
Stranded on the common ground: the fight for liberalism 220
The agenda f or change of the Brown Government 225
The battle for hearts and minds: Britain as a global hub 229
A new kind of politics, a new style of government 233
Is Gordon Brown best For England? 237
Is Gordon Brown best for Britain? 242
Endnotes 246
Index 301
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