Gordon Brown is right – Britain needs to get on a ‘war footing’ to help the economy (and here’s how...)

There is never ‘a good election to lose’ if you’re in the thick of it. But whoever wins is going to need to hit the ground running to avoid becoming mired in fiscal quicksand and economic torpor, warns James Moore

Former prime ministers John Major and Gordon Brown at the launch of the final report of the Institute for Government’s year-long Commission on the Centre of Government (PA Wire)

We need to think with almost military precision about how we can put our economy on a war footing.”

Hearing that from former prime minister and chancellor Gordon Brown, my immediate thought was... “Oh no. Really?” The casual use of military metaphors (you may remember we heard them a lot during the pandemic) is far too prevalent. Particularly now. My second thought, however, was... “Hang on. He’s right.”

Semantics aside, what Brown had to say in his speech at the Institute for Government on the launch of its report, titled “Power with Purpose” – the conclusion of a year-long commission – was designed to emphasise the scale of the UK’s economic problems.