ABSTRACT
In the late summer of 2008, the then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, gave an interview to The Times newspaper in which he forecast that the ‘worst recession in 60 years’ was heading towards the United Kingdom (UK). In the early spring of 2010, Mr Darling gave another interview, this time to Sky News, in which he described how the ‘forces of hell’ had been released upon him from the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s office as a conse - quence of his remarks (Sky News, 24 February 2010). There then followed a series of bullying accusations directed towards Mr Brown that were investigated by the head of the British civil service, Sir Gus O’Donnell – or ‘GOD’ as he is affectionately known around Whitehall, the heart of British government – who concluded that the accusations had no foundation. In and around the Palace of Westminster, or ‘The West Minster’ as it was historically known, such disagreements are commonplace – after all, modern British parties are ‘broad churches’ where a range of personalities and policies frequently collide.
