Gordon's gamble

摘要

In the past 40 years there have been at least three intellectually formidable chancellors of the exchequer-Roy Jenkins, Nigel Lawson and, now, Gordon Brown. Each exerted an easy domination over Whitehall's brainiest and most powerful department. Within government, each conducted policy on his own terms. Despite or, perhaps, because of this, Mr Jenkins and Mr Lawson both proved lethal to their parties: the former because he insisted on Gladstonian orthodoxy on the eve of an election; the latter because he allowed the resurgence of inflation that led in the end to the Tories' decline and fall. Might Mr Brown be going the same way? For a man whose favourite words are "prudent" and "cautious", Mr Brown is taking some big risks. Perhaps his huge self-confidence and delight in command, which give him the air of a man who has come to believe himself invincible, have turned him into a gambler.