Brown: I am like Thatcher
Gordon Brown has likened himself to Margaret Thatcher, as the Conservatives try to dispute claims they are “trashing” their past.
Mr Brown said both he and the former prime minister were “conviction politicians” who had “seen the need for change”.
In contrast, he said David Cameron was unable to lead his party with conviction and was instead a “prisoner” of its factions.
Speaking at his second monthly press conference, Mr Brown said: “I think Lady Thatcher saw the need for change. And I think whatever disagreements you have with her about certain policies.we have got to understand that she saw the need for change.
“I also admire the fact that she is a conviction politician . . . I am a conviction politician like her.”
He was speaking as the Conservatives’ long awaited report into public services was overshadowed by claims from Michael Ancram that the party was “trashing its past” and should return to its “core values”.
Mr Brown observed: “If I may say so, I think the problems with the Conservative Party today are this: that there are two factions in the Conservative Party, which became obvious this morning with the statements from Ancram.
“The leader is a prisoner of the factions rather than the factions being led with conviction.”
Mr Ancram, who unsuccessfully stood for the leadership against William Hague, has launched his own counter-manifesto, entitled Still A Conservative.
Promoting the pamphlet with a high-profile attack in the Daily Telegraph he said Mr Cameron needed to “unveil the party’s soul” rather than pushing ahead with “vacuous” reforms.
With Mr Cameron beginning to rebound from the “Brown bounce” in the polls, Michael Portillo told his fellow Conservatives to hold any criticism of the leader.
Mr Portillo added: “I was a great admirer of Margaret Thatcher but to invoke Thatcherism now, which is a phenomenon 25 years old, just makes the Tory party look old-fashioned and, of course, divided.”
