Brown has "months" left, Clarke warns
Thursday, 04 Sep 2008 12:54
Charles Clarke hits out at Brown
Charles Clarke has warned Gordon Brown he has only "months" left to improve his leadership.
The former home secretary's comments on the Today programme followed an article in today's New Statesman in which he wrote that Labour faces "disaster" if it continues "obsessing about the past".
Today Mr Clarke called on Mr Brown to "establish his authority" and said clear leadership was needed to establish a political direction about what Labour is seeking to achieve.
"He was a brilliant chancellor... it's gone less well over the last year and I think the question now in this new role is to establish that sense of decisiveness and clarity which I think the country is looking for," Mr Clarke said.
Mr Clarke did not flinch from overtly admitting his scepticism about the former chancellor's capacity for leadership, pointing out that he was "one of the few MPs" who did not nominate Mr Brown as a leader in last year's election.
"I thought I was wrong, I thought he did very well at the beginning of the premiership," he continued.
"However, I think there are many, many people now who are very concerned about our direction and are very concerned about our capacity to win the next general election."
Mr Brown is seeking to relaunch his premiership this week with a range of initiatives designed to alleviate the economic pressure currently faced by households up and down the country. He will outline his plans in a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) tonight.
Mr Clarke remains unimpressed. He said the prime minister needed to "establish an economic programme which is about more than re-launches and odd policy initiatives".
"There are two essential possibilities, both of which are perfectly honourable," he explained.
"The first is for the performance of the government to improve significantly, which is what I think many people would like to see. The second is for Gordon Brown to stand down as prime minister with honour and have a proper leadership election to assess the proper issues.
"I think it's a question of months, really… I am personally a sceptic, I always have been, but I also believe it's entirely possible he could turn things around."