Thursday, May 17, 2007

Plus ca change or spot the difference

Gordon Brown has, as really was expected, become Labour Party leader and so Prime Minister without a contest. His acceptance speech, the main points of which are illustrated using the soundbites extracted for his website, indicates in some ways a new direction but essentially a continuation of the New Labour mission. With the below photo, he states:

I am truly humbled that so many of my colleagues have nominated me for the leadership of the Labour Party and I formally accept the nomination, the responsibility it brings, and the opportunity to serve the people of Britain. I will strive to earn your trust. To earn your trust in our schools, in our hospitals, in our public services, and to respond to your concerns. To earn your trust in our schools, in our hospitals, in our public services, and to respond to your concerns. And by listening and learning, I want to become a voice for communities far beyond Westminster, to become a voice for the parent, the patient and the public, whom public services must exist to serve.


As a contrast, compare these words to the following:

It is an honour to lead this Party. I accept it with humility, with excitement and with a profound sense of the responsibility upon me. You have put your trust in me and I vow to you I shall repay that trust with unstinting service and dedication to our Party and our country... The task of national renewal is to provide opportunity and security in this world of change... On the economy, we replace the choice between the crude freemarket and the command economy with a new partnership between Government and industry, workers and managers... On education, that we do provide choice and demand standards from the teachers and schools, but run our education system so that all children get that choice and those standards, not just the privileged few... On welfare, that we do not want people living in dependency on state handouts, but will create a modern welfare system that has people at work not on benefit... There is much to be done, but much has been done. It was done by individuals of will and principle, working together for change.

This is Blair's acceptance speech, delivered almost thirteen years ago on 21 July 1994, the priorities are the same but trust is not the key issue but features, as does the humility interestingly Blair also talked of socialist values. So essentially more of the same but more listening perhaps? It seems there are key phrases that belong in the modern leadership acceptance speech, and if this was not sufficiently evidenced by the above how about these lines:

It's a huge privilege and honour and a great responsibility to take on this job. I will do it with everything I have to the best of my ability for my party and my country... this country faces huge challenges... The challenge of economic competitiveness... reform our public services... the quality of life... having social action to ensure social justice, and a stronger society... At the heart of what I believe are two simple principles, trusting people, and sharing responsibility

This was David Cameron on accepting the Conservative leadership, he follows the same rules it seems!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or is this the work of uninspired speech writers?

Anonymous said...

I got the email from Gordon today as I forgot to cancle the Labour Party enewsletter. In that he says, When people ask me what I will focus on as Prime Minister: My passion is education. My immediate priority is the NHS.
The new challenges: affordable housing; Building safe, secure and sustainable communities; And building trust in our democracy.
Isnt this the last pledge card you put on the powerpoint slide or jsut very similar?

Darren G. Lilleker said...

Hi again Heather, or inspired (sort of) from all the previous speeches. I suppose to be fair to deviate from acting humble, and notto focus on the priorities of the voters and media would be foolhardy but I wonder if someone did a study of leader's acceptance speeches if these features would show in them all.

These are not from the pledge card, that included the wonderful 'your family better off' promise; google them, they're not the Conservative five core themes are they? No checked, they're not - they do seem really familiar! Cheers, good luck with the last exam

Anonymous said...

wots the pic say, shepherd, man for all children,chief paedo???

Anonymous said...

i was thinking Michael Jackson

Anonymous said...

wheres ur right hand Gordo u old perv

Anonymous said...

Its easy to blame the politician here and add this to the many reasons to be cynical of them.

But we should take some responsibility too. Imagine Gordon Brown had said something like "At f******g last, right now give me the kesy and let me loose. As a total and utter workaholic you can be sure I will be focussed night and day. And give there is an election in a few years time and my poll rating is not grat, you can be sure I will try to do stuff that generally pleases you the voters. But remember too, ruling a country is not easy, so like the reat of you, I'll make mistakes and pee you off now and again"

The media would crucify him and we would go along with their spin on such an event.

We don't want honest politicians either.

Anonymous said...

if he said that i'd vote for him, better than the usual old bollocks - i do want an honest politician

Anonymous said...

convince me sid

what honest brands do you buy because they are just that??

Anonymous said...

brands are there to sell you stuff, we accept that, but isnt politics about serving the public, representing us, so we trust them to do what we would if we had the time, knowledge, the pay, so they should be honest. I would give my vote to the guy who says i woudl liek to do x y & z but cant afford to rather than the guy who tries to pretend he has done everythign he promised and hides his mistakes with soin or buries them when the media talk about disasters or him leaving or the stuff they all do to get away with making a complete cockup of everything. I wanna start the campaing for politicians who only tell the truth, I want Brown or Cameron to be lke Jim carrey in that film where he couldnt lie, i want a perfecvt world!!!!!

But i dont think you can compare a politician to a brand, we dont think of them the same, they dont do the same things, play the same role in society, so what brands can lie but their products that i buy satisfy me, the politicians i vote for dont - they pretend to