John Redwood for Next PM?

The fact he was caught on camera trying to join in singing and looked a little silly has about as much worth as implying Miliband is a useless idiot because he was caught on camera gurning whilst eating a bacon sandwich.
POGS sorry, I can't really agree with that. If a politician was appointed as Welsh Secretary and knew (or his advisers should have known and informed him) that he would be attending events in Wales where the National Anthem was to be sung then he should really have learnt the Anthem.
I do think he is a clever man but people will always remember that incident unfortunately. A bit different to Miliband chomping on a bacon sandwich (which I had forgotten).
Frank Field, Norman Tebbitt, Tony Benn - all conviction politicians imo. Agree with them or not.

It's nice to hear an alternative view of him. It would be comforting to know that not all politicians just play the party line and think of the country first. What a change that would make!

John Redwood is 'marmite' but he is in the Frank Field, Norman Tebbitt camp of MP's who say what they think and mean what they say whether it plays to the party line or not, I like that type of MP.

He is a mature debator and not given to childish rhetoric or shouts abuse at those who are of a different opinion, unlike some who think being heard is more important than having something worth listening to to make their point.

It has to be recognised that he is not a people person but that should not define his worth but it would not be a successful chacteristic for a Prime Minister.

The fact he was caught on camera trying to join in singing and looked a little silly has about as much worth as implying Miliband is a useless idiot because he was caught on camera gurning whilst eating a bacon sandwich.

What qualifications does Osborne have?

My response to that lies in the last sentence of the quote you copied.

HollyDaze, how do you know that "he never took notice of anyone who gave him advice?"

From listening to and reading, reports about him durhamjen:

Many of yesterday’s revelations about Mr Brown’s behaviour had been rumoured at Westminster for several years, but they were formally published for the first time in a book by Mr Rawnsley, serialised in a Sunday newspaper.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/gordon-brown/7287706/Gordon-Brown-criticised-by-anti-bullying-chief.html

Mr Brown’s capacity for anger is well known

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7286123/Gordon-Brown-psychological-flaws-is-starting-to-look-like-an-understatment.html

"He suffers from a massive paranoia and an inability to accept blame, yet he runs a blame culture that allows him to blame others. He does not seek to win an argument, he just seeks to bully. If you have not worked closely with him before, it is truly shocking."

Comments from a senior former adviser to Gordon Brown: blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmcfbrown/100026921/what-darkness-lies-behind-gordon-browns-aggressive-personality/

I could post a lot more.

I thought that the point of the civil service was to advise Ministers, and provide the expertise/knowledge that the Ministers clearly don't have.

I don't think he saved the Union, at the beginning it was a minority wish, until Salmond fanned the flames while Westminster stood fiddling. I think Cameron et al almost lost the Union with their shilly shallying about. Why didn't they say at the start that they loved the Scots and would be devastated if they left, and the country would be the worse for them going? That might have had more effect than the approach they did have, denial followed by denigration, followed by panic.

How do you know, jingle? Lots of people think he saved the union.

Gordon Brown did not "stop the banks going bust"; he arranged for the taxpayers to bail out the banks that had gone bust thanks to his soft regulation approach, and colluded in the one high street bank that was not bust - Lloyds - taking over one that was - HBOS - to the detriment of Lloyds Bank shareholders (of whom I was not one).

John Redwood was a very competent junior minister in the then DTI, who understood his briefs and was consequently easy to deal with. The fact that we went to the same Oxford college (at different times) did not prejudice me either way. But he was a bit weird to be a successful cabinet minister.

He did n't save the union! It was always going to be No. (Wish I'd put money on it)

His big mistake? He 'did not appreciate the entangled relationships of financial services institutions.' Mind you, given that his sole academic qualification is a First-Class Honours MA degree in history it shouldn't be too surprising that he didn't understand all things money - which begs the question: should someone who doesn't understand those things be in charge of a country's finances?

What qualifications does Osborne have?

Well, djen I did think he was impressive this time. Being away from frontline politics has done him good. And I also admired him and his wife for what they were trying to do for those poor Nigerian schoolgirls. He probably enjoyed outshining Alistair Darling this time, as he always did. Perhaps he would have been better as Foreign Secretary or Home Secretary rather than Chancellor.

People are suggesting that Gordon Brown should have a knighthood for saving the union. I guess some of you do not agree.

HollyDaze, how do you know that "he never took notice of anyone who gave him advice?" He might not have taken notice of the people you wanted him to take notice of, but that does not mean anyone.

Would you rather the banks had gone bust as in Iceland?

If Gordon Brown had taken notice of the owners of the Telegraph

To be fair to the man, he has to be given credit for being consistent - he never took notice of anyone that gave him advice.

Gordon Brown was a very devious Chancellor. There was so much smoke and mirrors that no-one knew quite what was happening - and he taxed pension funds so that your pension payout is smaller due in no small part to him.
Under his Chancellorship credit and house prices got completely out of control and he did nothing to discourage it - it suited him to let everyone feel that they were well off under Labour.
Much of it was an illusion.

When it all collapsed, HM asked 'Why did no-one see this coming?'
DH and I answered (but she didn't hear as she was on the TV) that if we, just ordinary people without financial brains could see that it would all end in tears how come they could not?
But of course, they probably could and it was all fuelled by greedy bankers and a government who wanted the electorate to feel happy so that they would keep re-electing them.

If Gordon Brown had taken notice of the owners of the Telegraph, he would have put all Britain's money in tax havens.
The Barclay brothers are not well known for paying their taxes. The Ritz has not paid any corporation tax for over 17 years.

Let's hope GB stays North of the border!

He is very clever

Gordon Brown: I made a big mistake when setting up FSA:

www.moneymarketing.co.uk/gordon-brown-i-made-a-big-mistake-when-setting-up-fsa/1029361.article

His big mistake? He 'did not appreciate the entangled relationships of financial services institutions.' Mind you, given that his sole academic qualification is a First-Class Honours MA degree in history it shouldn't be too surprising that he didn't understand all things money - which begs the question: should someone who doesn't understand those things be in charge of a country's finances?

FSA head: Gordon Brown helped fuel banking crisis

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/4809284/FSA-head-Gordon-Brown-helped-fuel-banking-crisis.html

He did stop the banks going bust.

The banks that won't lend to businesses but still pay out nice lump sums to themselves? Now why is that happening - could it be down to who called the shots at the time?

Also:

CBI director general Richard Lambert said Brown's decision in 1997 to scrap tax relief on dividends was a 'misjudgment' which contributed significantly to the decline of the pension system.

Lambert, a former editor of the Financial Times and member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee from June 2003 until March 2006, accused the Treasury of a 'convenient bit of spin'. He said the CBI had privately warned the Treasury that the move was 'not a good idea'.

The row follows the release of documents showing that Brown was warned by Treasury officials prior to the 1997 Budget that the move could wipe billions of pounds from pension fund assets. The documents were released after the Government abandoned efforts to keep them out of the public domain.

On May 7, 1997, just days after Labour's landslide victory, it (the ABI) said the change would affect charities and Personal Equity Plans, the forerunner of Individual Savings Accounts.

It also cautioned that a change in the tax credits 'will lower stock market valuations and probably lead to greater volatility'. The ABI told Mr Brown: 'Any change to the tax credit system has important implications for pensions, PEPs and charities with consequent political implications.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1608722/Browns-tax-raid-on-pensions.html

A viewpoint from how things stood at the time:

www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4256501/Gordon-Brown-is-not-a-good-Chancellor.html

Isn't it funny how those that preternd to know anything about economics always forget that Keynes said save in the good times so that you can spend in the bad times. Unfortunately Gordon Brown spent more and borrowed more in a time when we were booming than any previous chancellor in history.

The comments from people with a good memory are worth browsing through:

blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/06/meet-gordon-brown-comedian/

I agree that PM was one step too far (Ana) but I also agree that he was a good "money man" (jinglbellsfrocks). Much was heaped on his head when the international crisis hit that was in fact agreed by all parties.

Good money man though. He did stop the banks going bust.

He was a terrible PM though.

He is very clever and he seems to have more principles than some.

Gordon Brownis no buffoon. I think he is probably a very clever man.

It may well have been - I just think that if he's going to be written off, it should be for a better reason than not knowing the words to an anthem.