Power Trip - a decade of policy plots and spin by Damian McBride

Published in 2103 by Gordon Browns former 'spin doctor'  I am reminded of the phrase the banality of evil, in this case the banality of the reality of power.

Perhaps the most disappoint revelation in the book is page 307, chapter 41, "too many mistakes"
in which it say that upon becoming Prime Minister Gordon Brown planned to call a general election on the policies of: "abolition of tuition fees and big cuts in inheritance tax and stamp duty, and a major constitutional reform programme covering the House of Lords, the voting system, war powers and MP's outside income."   As his poll rating bounced anyway and the plans were dropped.

The death of Robin Cook who apparently would have been Browns choice for Chancellor and/or Deputy Prime Minister is also surely a major blow to progressive pluralist politics. Cook who had achieved so much with the Cook-McClennan agreement would surely have driven forward a change to the voting system and a Lib Dem/Labour coalition.