If Patrick Brown‘s new book, Takedown: The Attempted Political Assassination Of Patrick Brown, was supposed to add clarity to the rapid rise and rapid demise of his tenure as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, it misses the mark.
There’s more innuendo than insight in Brown’s version of the story.
The way Brown tells it, any problems that occurred on his watch were the fault of disloyal or incompetent advisers and caucus members.
Brown had particularly harsh words for two high profile PCs, Vic Fedeli and Lisa MacLeod. He contends that Fedeli dodged the bullet of sexual misconduct allegations not too long before similar allegations against Brown ignited the powder keg that blew up his leadership.
He says that MacLeod was roundly disliked and disrespected by the PC caucus and suggests that there was talk that she was faking it when she complained about mental health issues.
WATCH: Patrick Brown pulls no punches in his new memoir
Neither allegation is backed up by any proof and seems to be nothing more than Queen’s Park gossip, and frankly, there aren’t enough bookshelves in Indigo bookstores to hold the volumes that could be written about unsubstantiated political gossip.
However, Brown’s assertion that he was the victim of an organized coup seems quite plausible.
But, given the described infighting and turmoil while Brown was the PC leader, it seems likely that Brown’s political assassination was akin to Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express, where every disgruntled caucus member took a turn plunging the knife into the despised victim.
Bill Kelly is the host of the Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML