132,585
edits
Changes
From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to searchDecline and Fall: Diaries 2005 to 2010 by Chris Mullin (view source)
Revision as of 15:44, 30 August 2010
, 15:44, 30 August 2010no edit summary
The diaries cover the period from 2005 to when Chris left Parliament for the final time in 2010. Through Chris's eyes we see the departure of Tony Blair and the coronation of Gordon Brown, the winning of the 2012 Olympics, the London bombings, the global financial crisis and the 'Great Expenses Meltdown'. You might well think that there's not much more to be said on any of these topics but the more measured and thoughtful approach in ''Decline and Fall'' gives a new perspective.
Perhaps the most striking point is that an administration which seemed to make much use of the spin doctor failed to make any capital at all out of the fact that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling were the people who pulled the global financial system back from the brink of collapse. It's no secret in other countries but doesn't seem to be considered in the UK and there's a hope Chris hopes that history will treat Brown more kindly than the voters have done. Here Brown is ''blamed'' for the financial crisis. The Conservatives make much of the debts that have been left to them – failing to mention that the cause of the problem were the city bankers.
On the expenses scandal you might have expected some triumphalism given that Chris was one of the saints of the episode and famous for his black and white television, but there's no blame, no malice and even sympathy for those caught up in the scandal. Having no need to worry for his own back he looks more to getting a system which will bring in public respect and he feels that one way to begin that process is to stop having a summer break which lasts for the best part of three months. Regrettably not too many of his fellow MPs thought the same way.
