Can Gordon Brown change?

Can Gordon Brown change?

That is the question raised by Anatole Kaletsky's spirited column in this morning's Times. Those who repose faith in Brown based on his performance as Chancellor still accept that he will need to raise his game in order to be a good Prime Minister. But can he?

A clue to the answer is given in Michael Lewis's excellent book, (and I regard it as compulsory reading), Moneyball.

Baseball scouts continually purchase players with flaws that they believe will be eradicated by good managers. But in the vast majority of cases this doesn't work, the flaws remain. The Oakland Athletics baseball manager prefers an alternative strategy - he buys players later, so that he can take proper account of their shortcomings. He has a clear-eyed view that such shortcomings do not disappear with good training.

In selecting Brown in the hope that he will be a different man in Number 10, Labour is making a similar error to that of traditional baseball scouts.

Comments

[Firozali A.Mulla MBA PhD]

Any one can throw the smoking habit, but Mr. Brown. No. He is one who wants to say give giev me gime gime gime