HE WAKES up with the clock radio going off. It’s the same time as yesterday and the same song is being played.

He gets up, goes out and everything plays out the same as the day before. The next morning, he wakes up with the clock radio going off, it’s the same time as yesterday and the same song is being played. He gets up, goes out and everything plays out the same as the day before. This scenario repeats itself again and again.

No, this isn’t an outline of a Hollywood movie starring Bill Murray, this is what seems to happen in Fife, in the home of Groundhog Gordon Brown, the former chancellor and unelected prime minister.

When Scotland was threatening to vote Yes in the independence referendum, up popped Groundhog Gordon with his Vow and how Scotland will get the most devolved parliament in the world, as close to federalism as possible.

Scotland is now threatening to call another independence referendum after the Brexit vote; and up pops Groundhog Gordon, making the same promises about federalism that he gave two years ago. Yet not one reporter thought of asking him what happened to the promises he gave in the Vow in 2014, or why do we need these powers now since he already promised them two years ago?

In the world of Groundhog Gordon, he isn’t troubled by such things as reporters asking questions.

It’s time for him to set the alarm clock again and fall asleep safe in the knowledge that when the buzzer next wakes him up he’s got the same speech to deliver, time after time.

It really does surprise me when people stop to listen to Gordon Brown’s opinion on anything.

After all, these are all stage-managed appearances, with a hand-picked audience and reporters only too willing to report everything he says without asking even the simplest, most obvious questions.

It seems Brown is excused the scrutiny that other politicians have to face. For instance, only a week or so ago the BBC ran a documentary about the use of PFI (Private Finance Initiatives), where they tracked down the owners of some of the PFI companies to tax havens but managed not to mention the role that Gordon Brown and the Labour government played in promoting this disastrous funding model.

Gordon Brown told councils and the then Scottish Executive that PFI was the only game in town for investing in public services such as new schools, hospitals and even prisons. He took what was initially a Tory scheme and massively expanded it across the public sector, where a Labour-led Scottish Executive and Labour-led councils lined up to access this funding method. Everyone knew this funding model led to excessive profits for the companies behind the PFI schemes, but still Brown and his cronies pushed ahead with it.

Only recently, it’s been announced that PFI payments in Scotland – just for last year – have risen to £1 billion. We’ve also discovered that the PFI contract for Addiewell Prison, which was built at a cost of £80m, will end up costing the taxpayer £1 billion. That is essential funding that could help stimulate our economy and transform our communities, but instead it lines the pockets of the companies behind the profiteering PFI schemes.

Brown’s track record as chancellor and PM is not one that is often repeated when he is wheeled out for his latest comments. This is the former chancellor who sold the UK’s gold reserves when the price of gold was at an all-time low. He was also responsible for the destruction of occupational pensions when he imposed a £5bn-per-year tax on them, leading to employers either closing or downsizing the benefits of their schemes. You would think a track record like that would be an important factor to take into account when the public are exposed to his latest ramblings.

It’s also noticeable that with his promises of enhanced powers for the Scottish Parliament, Mr Brown didn’t bother to push these through when he actually had the power, or even influence, as either prime minister or chancellor, to do so. He waits until he’s a backbencher or retired from parliament before coming up with plans that he ignored when he could have done something about them.

Unsurprisingly, he’s got form on this type of approach as well. For instance, despite being the MP for Dalgety Bay for years and being aware of the problem of radioactive contamination on the beach, Brown waited until he was a backbencher – with little or no powers to act – before he started a campaign to clean up said beach.

The health risks posed by radioactive particles from decommissioned Second World War aircraft were known when

Mr Brown was prime minister. In fact, in 2009, the MoD’s own scientists refused to analyse particles from the site because of the risk it could give them cancer. Despite this, the MoD continued to resist pressure to pay for a clean-up of the pollution, which comes from a radium coating on the instrument panels of the aircraft. It wasn’t until Mr Brown was a backbencher in 2011 that he started to raise this issue – when he had no powers to compel the MoD to do anything about it.

It seems that Gordon Brown is so desperate to try to maintain his media profile that he is now finding issues to talk about that he obviously ignored when he had the power to do something about them. That’s why I don’t understand why people are listening to him whenever he comes out for yet another stage-managed press conference.