Gordon Brown is increasingly relying on the advice of a former Conservative MP as he forms strategies to take on the opposition between now and the next general election, Newstatesman.com has learned.
Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland Secretary, who defected to Labour from the Conservatives in 1999, now has a base in Downing Street from which he offers the Prime Minister strategic advice on how to tackle David Cameron.
Although Brown can barely bring himself to utter Cameron’s name – he failed to mention him once in today’s Times interview, referring instead to “our opponents” – he is increasingly focusing on tactics to challenge the Tory leader.
In an indictation of Woodward’s new influential role, he has been given a Downing Street email account, and is now copied in on all major strategic decisions circulated to Brown’s key advisers.
For example, a recent memo about the Iraq inquiry, seen by the New Statesman, was copied to Woodward’s Downing Street account as well as advisers such as Stewart Wood, Mike Ellam and Jeremy Heywood.
Brown is known to hold Wooward in particularly high regard, patting him on the back vigorously when he sees him and clearly keen to ask him regularly for advice on what Cameron’s Tories may be thinking.
Ministers complain privately, however, that apart from what Labour strategists glean from Woodward’s limited perspective, there is little serious thinking about anti-Tory strategy taking place in the party and the government.
Cameron is known to “despise” the Northern Ireland Secretary. At Prime Minister’s Questions recently, after Brown was seen consulting with Woodward, the Tory leader raised eyebrows by snapping: “He wasn’t much good when he was with us and he isn’t now he is with them.”
Meanwhile, Brown is said to be “absolutely determined” to exploit the remark by the shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, that spending would be cut by 10 per cent across the board, except health, between now and the general election. The gaffe is likely to be used on election posters next year.
Mr Woodward had not responded on his Downing Street email account at the time of writing.
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