First off, he's obviously a deeply unattractive, dour and grumpy figure who was never elected as prime minister and simply inherited the office from Tony Blair. Second, though, his economic management of the past thirteen years - with massive Rove-style spending sprees in the good times to a total lack of a safety margin when the catastrophe hit - is increasingly derided as the latest figures show Britain's economic recovery faltering in the first quarter (albeit much of it a fluke because of the cold winter):
Labour suffered a triple blow on Mr Brown’s chosen topic.
Official figures showed that the economy grew by only 0.2 per cent in the first three months of the year, half the 0.4 per cent of the final quarter of 2009.
Analysis showed that the economy grew more slowly under Labour than it did under the Tories between 1979 to 1997 an average of 2 per cent a year compared with 2.2 per cent. Martin Weale, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said that Labour was not running the economy in a sustainable way.