Labour peer Desai speaks out against "weak" Brown

Gordon Brown accused of weakness and indecision

Thursday, 17, Apr 2008 12:00

Lord Desai has dismissed Gordon Brown as "indecisive" and "weak" in a newspaper interview.

In an interview with the Evening Standard newspaper the Labour peer said he thought Mr Brown was "put on Earth to remind people how good Tony Blair was".

The Labour peer's comments come just two days after reports emerged claiming trade minister Lord Jones, the former Confederation of British Industry director-general, would resign before the next election rather than support the prime minister.

Lord Desai added to the negative press for Mr Brown by saying he was concerned for his party's prospects for the forthcoming local elections.

He described activists as being "down in the dumps" about the May 1st votes and singled out Mr Brown's leadership style for specific criticism, describing him as a "worrier with an academic approach to solving problems".

This "does not always reassure people when they feel uncertain", he said.

A foodstuff-based comparison of Mr Brown and his predecessor in No 10, Mr Blair, provided another opportunity for Lord Desai to portray the prime minister negatively.

In his newspaper interview Lord Desai said the prime minister was like "porridge, or maybe haggis… not very persuasive if you don't already agree with him".

By contrast, he explained on BBC News 24 this afternoon, Mr Blair could be compared in the same context to "champagne or caviar".

Despite his criticisms of Labour's current leader, Lord Desai made clear he opposed an immediate exit from the top job by Mr Brown.

"We are not there yet. It is very difficult to change a Labour leader before an election," he told the Evening Standard.

"When - or if - the time comes, I think it has to be David Miliband because he has shown maturity about the leadership and he withstood the pressure to stand last year against Gordon."