No sign of McCavity

The G20 has come and gone, but not without the inevitable portentous, overblown pronouncement from Gordon Brown. 

The deal struck at the ExCel centre was “historic”, he declared.  A “new world order” had been created, bringing with it a “plan for global recovery and reform”. 

Barack Obama was a little more circumspect, calling G20 a “turning point” for the global economy, which would put it on the “path to recovery”. 

So who was right?  Alistair Darling, appearing on this morning’s Today programme, called the deal a “significant step forward” (which it is, if only for the injection of cash into the IMF), but that “it couldn’t be oversold” (which is precisely what Gordon Brown is doing).  

So, on the whole, Darling appears to be with Obama. 

John Humphrys had a field day with the hapless Chancellor, pointing out that in fact there had been an utter failure of regulation in this country, with the Government positively encouraging an orgy of personal borrowing that had brought the economy to its knees. 

Darling stuttered and stammered and said that the same had happened in other countries.  Humphrys retorted, not unreasonably, that we didn’t elect the governments of other countries; we had elected Brown and Darling.

It was a long interview, by the end of which I felt rather sorry for Darling.  He had taken the punishment for Gordon Brown’s hubris, and not for the first time, either.

If Gordon Brown wants to make silly, exaggerated, boastful, claims, why doesn’t he submit himself to forensic scrutiny from the likes of John Humphrys?  Why does he always leave  it to others to take the rap?