From the archives: Brown, the opera

Perfect for Friday evening is this: the Gordon Brown-themed version of Ko-Ko’s ‘little list’ from The Mikado that Jeff Randall wrote for us back in 2007. The chorus should be sung, according to Jeff, by three people who have been quite prominent this week: Ed Miliband, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper…

The clunking fist, Jeff Randall, The Spectator, 3 March 2007

Britain doesn’t do Lord High Executioners, but if it did, Gordon Brown would probably be the best in the world. The prospect of the Chancellor in this role occurred to me while listening again to Gilbert & Sullivan’s masterful satire, The Mikado. Ko-Ko makes his entrance with ‘a little list’ of those who are for the chop. Among the joys of W.S. Gilbert’s libretto is its invitation for a contemporary version of victims. Who better to identify them than the Clunking Fist?

Ko-Ko, The Lord High Executioner (Gordon Brown):


As this year it may happen that more taxes must be found,

I’ve got a little list — I am the Clunking Fist

So let’s start with fat-cat bosses who can shed some extra pounds
And which never would be missed, I know that they exist!

There’s the pestilential journalists who write the Telegraph

They claim I spend and squander cash — Oh, please don’t make me laugh.