BUT HE'S NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LEHMAN BROTHERS!

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The BBC are really keen on recalling the 1992 election, when the incumbent government won the election against expectation. After Carolyn Quinn last night came James Naughtie this morning, revisiting that election with Lord Heseltine. You would think that the BBC are praying that history will repeat itself!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8603000/8603220.stm
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Naughtie himself said "a lot of people, I think, on the Labour side would like to think that this is an election like 1992. There was John Major, you know, unpopular, Tories been in for 13 years, people said 'Oh that Kinnock's a nice man' and so on and Labour thought they were going to win and John Major came back and he pulled it off, and they say the same thing could happen to Gordon Brown. Why not?"
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The reason, said Lord Heseltine, is Gordon Brown.
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Naughtie responded, "You think it's what people think of him, not his toughness or his capacity, it's what they think of him?"
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His "toughness"? His "capacity"? 'People' doubt he really has much of either. Naughtie misread Lord Heseltine's answer. His answer already embraced much more than mere matters of personality.
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Lord Heseltine also amusingly saw off Naughtie's attempts to dredge up the row over David Cameron's decision to withdraw the Tories from the EPP grouping in the European parliament.
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Incidentally, Naughtie's "people said, 'Oh, that Kinnock's a nice man'" provoked laughter in my household. I can't say I remember many people saying that myself. Nor for that matter was John Major personally "unpopular". Still, Jim's a Labour man and his memories and perceptions are coloured by that fact.
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Lord Heseltine's brilliant analysis of Gordon Brown's record provoked this comment from Naughtie: "But he's not responsible for Lehman Brothers!" Yes, lest we forget: It All Started In America!
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