What’s so special about 2020? Brownism is all about postponement

It took the Queen only eight minutes to read the speech Gordon Brown’s advisers had prepared for her and even she looked bored by the end of it. The Prime Minister may have waited ten years for this chance to set the parliamentary agenda, but one searches this Queen’s Speech in vain for any sense of direction or drive. It was a compendium of mainly old policies, in which a wider ‘vision’ was always difficult to discern. Instead, it was a speech remarkable for what it did not contain.

Gone is the sense of adventurism. Under Tony Blair, the Gracious Speech gave notice of his next series of battles with his party. One could look at his proposed Bills, and pencil in the date of impending backbench rebellion as he pursued his strategy of pro-market reform of the public services. Especially towards the end, there was a palpable sense of urgency, and a sense of a man who knew the clock was ticking.