GURKHAS - ANOTHER OWN GOAL

It is sometimes mind-blowing how wrong the Government can be on issues where it simply makes the wrong call. Today's papers exult over the fact there was a Commons defeat for Gordon Brown on the Gurkhas and their right to stay in Britain. Cue pictures of Cameron, Clegg and Joanna Lumley outside the House of Commons celebrating a victory for democracy which will no doubt be followed by more opinion polls showing a plummeting rating for Labour. Of course many Labour MPs rebelled on this issue and they were right to do so.
The fact they had to is a sign that somehow those at the highest levels of power have somehow lost touch with their electorate . This latest fiasco is one of a series which have undermined the Government because they have got it wrong.
One of Tony Blair's great assets was his ability to sense the mood of the nation - particularly Middle England. This led to policies which infuriated the left and much of the Labour Party. But, under his watch, it would never have been suggested that the Gurkhas should have been denied the right to stay in this country. It was interesting to read in Chris Mullin's diaries that it was Brown, not Blair, who insisted on the privatisation of Air Traffic Control.
It is likewise Brown who has pressed ahead with the privatisation of the Royal Mail, the third runway at Heathrow ( opposed by several cabinet Ministers and backbenchers) and the Welfare Reform Bill. None of these is likely to win him much support so, on a purely pragmatic level, why is he doing it.
On Tuesday, as i was waiting to go into a meeting at the House Of Commons, I bumped into a friend of mine who is an assistant general secertary of one of the rail unions. He had just had a meeting with Geoff Hoon and was appalled at his lack of insight and concern on the issues relating to his members. His take was this is a Government which knows it is on the ropes and lacks the will or the sense to turn things round with policies which would appeal to its core vote. I'm afraid I can only agree.