Not easy being Brown

Every time I’ve been to London over the last year it seems like Chancellor Gordon Brown has caused yet another debate. As a foreign bystander one must simply wonder what is wrong with this man who is said to succeed Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street.

The latest mess he have gotten in to appear to be that he ignored warnings over the impact of changes he made to pension funds in his first budget back 1997. According to pension experts the tax credit cut was a contributory factor in the decline of Britain's once-generous company final salary schemes.

On Friday the Treasury released documents showing that Chancellor Brown was warned the move would cost pension funds between 3 and 4 billion pounds a year and cut the value of their assets by 50 billion pounds. To add to all of this it also occurs like Brown have been trying to bury the news while the Parliament was in recess and he being out of the country.

With only a couple of month(s) left of Tony Blair’s 10 years as PM this scandal may also rock Brown’s leadership bid. Many Labour MPs now seriously think there is going to be a challenge for the leadership.

John McDonnell, a leading leftwing Labour MP who has announced plans to challenge Mr Brown, said: "Up until now, there’s been almost a consensus that Brown is the natural successor to Blair. Now, questions about his competence are being raised. Increasingly, members of the Labour Party are looking for a proper contest."

Since the next general election in the UK won’t happen until 2009 or 2010 one can also ponders over what the voters might think in this question and in many other Brown issues. Are they willing to have a Prime Minster that acts like he’s totally incompetent?