WHAT'S GOT HIS GOAT?
When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister - he set out to achieve a Government Of All Talents, or GOAT for short - according to his spin doctors.
At the time, this was hailed as a wizard wheeze by Labour cheerleaders - as a sure-fire way for a sure-footed PM - to wrong-foot and confound his political opponents.
The search for GOATS led to a Tory MP crossing the floor and becoming a junior Labour minister - and to other prominent Tory supporters joining the government via the House of Lords.
Oh how the People's Party clapped and cheered - at the cleverness of it all.
But now the boot is on the other foot under a new coalition government - things have turned sour.
John Prescott, former deputy Labour leader, is decrying some of his former Labour colleagues as 'collaborators'.
Strong words indeed - intemperate even, some would say.
What has got John Prescott's goat is that the new Prime Minister has asked two leading Labour figures - John Hutton and Frank Field - to carry out major policy reviews on behalf of the new Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.
John Hutton will chair an inquiry into public sector pensions - while Frank Field will lead a review into poverty - and into the causes of poverty, presumably.
John Prescott said of his former comrades, now turned collaborators: " I've been in politics for over 50 years but even I can't believe what's happening."
Now politicians are used to saying one thing - then doing another whenever it's convenient.
But John Prescott takes the biscuit.
The about to be ennobled 'Lord Two Jags' is a wonderful example of a truly tribal politician - one who will say 'white is black' then 'black is white' - just to suit his own political interests.
At the time, this was hailed as a wizard wheeze by Labour cheerleaders - as a sure-fire way for a sure-footed PM - to wrong-foot and confound his political opponents.
The search for GOATS led to a Tory MP crossing the floor and becoming a junior Labour minister - and to other prominent Tory supporters joining the government via the House of Lords.
Oh how the People's Party clapped and cheered - at the cleverness of it all.
But now the boot is on the other foot under a new coalition government - things have turned sour.
John Prescott, former deputy Labour leader, is decrying some of his former Labour colleagues as 'collaborators'.
Strong words indeed - intemperate even, some would say.
What has got John Prescott's goat is that the new Prime Minister has asked two leading Labour figures - John Hutton and Frank Field - to carry out major policy reviews on behalf of the new Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.
John Hutton will chair an inquiry into public sector pensions - while Frank Field will lead a review into poverty - and into the causes of poverty, presumably.
John Prescott said of his former comrades, now turned collaborators: " I've been in politics for over 50 years but even I can't believe what's happening."
Now politicians are used to saying one thing - then doing another whenever it's convenient.
But John Prescott takes the biscuit.
The about to be ennobled 'Lord Two Jags' is a wonderful example of a truly tribal politician - one who will say 'white is black' then 'black is white' - just to suit his own political interests.
