Old habits die hard

We all know about Brown’s control-freakery when he was at the Treasury.  And that he maintains a tight grip on matters economic from No.10 is equally common knowledge.  But I still find stories like this one in today’s Standard grimly amusing.  This quote from a “Whitehall official” just about sums it up:

“Is there an economic plan [coming from Gordon Brown]? We keep reading about it in the press but, if there is one, we have not been told about it or shown it.

Frankly, nobody seems to be very sure what is going on. Presumably the Chancellor is involved but even that is not absolutely clear.”At the risk of sounding like an armchair psychologist, this clam-up-and-talk-to-no-one approach to policymaking is hardly advisable for our embattled Prime Minister.  Now – more than ever – Brown needs to be bringing people on board his project.  Choosing to ignore them will just add to the ranks of those who want to see him go.