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.
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