Being off on annual leave, and not going away due to the now again growing Covid-19 Pandemic, leaves you space to think about stuff. That happened to me yesterday when I was thinking about the state of things right now in Scotland, and the UK to a degree, the person that came to mind, not in a good way, was Gordon Brown and his lasting legacy that millions of people are still paying for today. So I thought I would write a wee bit about the grim reaper and his legacy.
For me his three biggest failures that have had a lasting and not good effect on all of us are the following:
Starting in 1997 to 2008, then Chancellor Gordon Brown, raided pension schemes to the tune of £175 Billion Pounds effectively ending the final salary pension scheme in many parts of both the private and public sectors, effectively stealing £17,000 pounds from every worker. This also froze the lump sum that public sector workers were to receive which resulted in greater pensioner poverty over the years. A treasury report found that in the end, those who would suffer most would be those not in a position to top up their pension contributions – namely, the lower-paid. This would have a greater impact on Labour’s core voters, their chances of a comfortable retirement without money worries would be wrecked. Many people now also believe that the current crisis in social care in England, that we all might end up having to pay for in years to come with increased National Insurance payments, lays squarely at the feet of Gordon Brown and his pension money grab.
To confound this failure Gordon Brown then went on to, between 1999 and 2002, sell off 401 tonnes (56%) of the UK’s gold reserves. The total sale of the gold bullion sold was $3.5 billion, at $275 per ounce average sale value. It is somewhat ironic that Gordon Brown’s attempts to make as much money as possible from a staggered sale resulted in over $100 million less for the gold (Bullion Post). If he had waited he could have made £8.3 Billion more. This was one of the most stupid decisions ever made by a Chancellor in the UK.
His biggest betrayal and failure though, and one that has caused so much pain even today, was his involvement in the Vow, you can read the history of the Vow from SNP darling Murray Foote here but there is no doubt that the biggest lie ever told in Scotland swayed enough soft YES voters to reject the opportunity of independence and a better Scotland with Brown front and centre in this betrayal of a whole country, aided by Foote, with his involvement in the New SNP telling us a lot of what that party has become.
If another referendum comes along, and when they roll out Brown from cry o-stasis, remember his legacy of failure and the pain he caused, remember he was the broker of the Vow that deceived a nation, and remember he did well out of his failure to the estimated personal worth of around $15 million according to some, and never ever forget that millions of Scots are worse off because of his lies and his legacy. Let’s not repeat the same mistakes again.
You can join the Alba Party here, I did because I want that better Scotland for my kids.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
Mr GB: A messenger boy and shoe-shiner for the British state.
Any more words are wasted.
Duncanio
I never liked him, there was always something not there for me, something that made me uncomfortable but there is no doubt he was a disaster for the UK and particularly Scotland, for me a total traitor. Anyone with half a brain knows that independence will not be easy, we know that, there will be pain but in the long term it is still the correct thing for our future, he betrayed that and not because he actually believes in Britain but because he sold out.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
I was dumbfounded that he convinced folk to vote no . Those folk must have had short memories , even though l wasn’t particularly savvy about politics l remember what he did and the misery he caused to millions of us . Along with what Thatcher did , folk easily forget . I remember speaking to a bunch of 60 year old at the time of Referendum , men who lived and worked in and around Ravenscraig , they all voted no , they called me thick for voting yes , stunned by their reactions tbh . Such is life , folk will never learn .
Pauline
Scottish Labour pretty much sold out. People like Brown are champagne socialists and always have been, they don’t care for the poor, they haven’t done that for a long long time, they thumb their noses up at the poor and that is why people have rejected them. Brown I always despised, something was just never right with him at all. He was a disaster and some of his decisions we are still paying for today but his role in the referendum just showed how much he was already bought and sold for Westminster gold, he has done ok while the most of us have slowly but surely seen our standard of living get less and less each year while people like Brown are multi-millionaires and go into space on a vanity holidays. It is long past time we woke up, we know independence will not be easy but any chance to make things better for the majority has to be what we do as straying in the UK will just see more poverty and people like Brown will happily take their cut to betray the poorest.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Brown carries the weight of his own failure aand is a broken and bitter man, never destined to don the ermine cloak,. It will be a gift to the independence movement if he is given a “shamble on ” role in shoring up the corrupt UK union and blethering about federalism
Derek
I think so as well that they make a mistake if they roll him out in future because everything he said he believed in has turned into a disaster for Scotland and yes very bitter man.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
I would like to add PFI into his failures, OK! Thatcher maybe introduced it, but Brown used it for everything especially in Scotland. He literally bankrupted every council. Hence the need to raise the council tax year on year, He benefitted his RICH pals in The private, then made the people pay for every build via raising the council tax year on year.
The cuts to council workers started to show with towns & Cities starting to look worse for the wear..
You have to ask, where did all that money he did steal from pensioners, got from the sale of the gold & the money he NEVER spent go to?
I remember during an SNP yes meeting in the run Up to the 2014 referendum, people were asked their opinions on things, like what brought them to the SNP or to the YES side, I have until Alba came along only ever voted SNP. But someone in the audience said Labours PFI & the bankrupting of the councils was their reason. let’s not go there said, Peter Grant not an MP at the time but a councillor. I asked why not? PFI has cost the ordinary tax payer more taxes raised by Brown than even under the Tories. Why are WE via our council tax having to pay hundreds of millions of £s more for a building via the INTEREST?
Surely instead of saying let’s not go there, you should be saying the SNP or an INDEPENDENT Scotland will NEVER go there to fund their builds..
The man looks like the grim reaper, he behaves like one as well. I absolutely hate the man.. Why Fife thought so much of him I will never know..
Kurikat
Good call, I did think about PFI but I was not sure if it was Brown alone so thanks for adding that one and yes I would agree he definitely abused it and councils will still be paying for schools etc after they have all been demolished in future. I have no idea where the pension money went, tax credits were a shambles at the start and there was a lot of fraud because it was not thought through if I remember correctly, people were claiming it from overseas and everything. I was SNP also until this years election when I just could not vote for them, the two previous elections I had held my nose but this year no couldn’t do it after all that Sturgeon has done so went Alba on the list, and went and joined Alba as well as my last throw of the dice and the only hope we now have to be honest.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
I remember Brown going to the STUC conference after New Labour were elected, and telling them they HAD to accept PFI (a rebranded PPP which Scottish trade unions had been fighting, quite successfully) because it was a Labour government who were introducing it.
The trade union movement in Scotland never recovered. Campbell Christie was a public figure in Scotland; I’m a political geek, and a trade union member, but I couldn’t tell you who holds that post now.
Anne
Brown was always just a nasty piece of work for me, something was never right about him as far as I was concerned. I am also a trade union member, just voted in the unite leadership election and voted for the candidate that said it was up to Unite members in Scotland to decide what it wanted as far as independence is concerned and who also wants to look at funding for the Labour Party, basically reduce it. She probably won’t win but at least not a drone.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce