Both Che Guevara and Thatcher declared they were for “reform”, so Brown saying it means nothing in itself. His definition of reform is “personalisation” which, as far as I can make out, is 180 degree opposite to Blair’s idea of reform.
One of the best (and shortest) think tank pamphlets I’ve read in a while is “Who do they think we are” by the Centre for Policy Studies. Jill Kirby argues that Brown’s “personalisation” means a mass computerisation of the state, making this behemoth survive into the 21st century by modernising Whitehall departments rather than dismantling them. When Brown talks about personalising the health and education experience, he wants to do via the state what Blair wanted to do via the market. This is the crucial difference between their definitions of “reform”.
Blair realised after 2001 that the state didn’t work and wanted to crack health and education provision.
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