Gordon Brown

13.12.2016 Brexit

Labour’s Brexit pledge card (fictitious, but could the idea catch on?)

Ask any Brits whose formative political years were the 1990s and they can answer you this question: “When will Britain join the Euro?” The answer, of course, is: “When the five economic tests are met!” The thing was that no-one

13.05.2010 EU Politics

Decontaminating the Labour brand

I was rather struck my Mark Thompson’s critique of the Labour Party’s current predicament – “I think Labour activists are in danger of underestimating just how damaged their own party brand already is” were the words he used. I really

28.02.2010 UK Politics

Sorry Cameron, but Britain is not “in a complete and utter mess”

OK, the UK has some difficulties due to the financial crisis and is struggling out of recession, but does Cameron really reckon that people think the place is “in a complete and utter mess” as he has termed it in

24.02.2010 EU Politics / UK Politics

I think I have some sort of political depression

I have a problem. A serious problem. I’m beset by some kind of political depression. It’s not because I fear the result of the UK’s forthcoming general election – even if Labour wins there will be scant optimism. The battle

03.02.2010 UK Politics

We have been at our best when at our boldest – so AV?

Two striking phrases appear in Tony Blair’s 2002 Labour Conference speech – the famous “We have been at our best when at our boldest” and a lesser known line “Thanks to the brilliance and vision of Gordon Brown we have

06.01.2010 UK Politics

Brown: back him or sack him, but definitely do not dither

OK, here we go again. I’ve lost track of the number of times that there have been weak and weedy attempts to ditch Gordon Brown over the last 9 months or so. This time things are perhaps a little bit

03.08.2009 EU Politics / UK Politics

In the postmodern putsch you have to move the victim somewhere – so where for Brown?

If you don’t like a politician what do you do with him or her? International organisations are always an option. Could this work for Labour and Gordon Brown? Let me explain. Brussels is full of national politicians who no longer

09.06.2009 UK Politics

Gordon Brown and AV – no, not now Gordon

At the ‘we don’t want to oust Gordon’ PLP meeting earlier this week many words were spoken about how the Prime Minister had learnt the lessons of the last week, how he was now going to be better at listening.

04.06.2009 UK Politics

Brown’s reshuffle: Miliband should refuse to move, and Balls should be refused

The British newspapers have been full of analysis of the resignations of Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears, but the big news is still to come with Brown’s cabinet reshuffle, pencilled in for either tomorrow or Monday next week. For me

17.02.2009 EU Politics

Bleak political prospects in the UK – thoughts on Labour’s leadership

I met Dave Keating, author of the excellent Gulf Stream Blues blog, for a coffee yesterday and we started to chat about UK politics. What, he asked me, were my thoughts about Gordon Brown’s prospects? It seems that as the

21.01.2009 EU Politics / UK Politics

Beith about the budget – it’s the flood aid scenario revisited

I happened to catch a few moments of PMQs today, and Alan Beith asked a question about how EU funds were being denied to the North East, while Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were still eligible for the same funds,

21.03.2006 EU Politics / UK Politics

Polly Toynbee on Sweden again

Polly Toynbee is on about Sweden again in her column in The Guardian today – read it here. The column is not her best argued effort, but this did make me smile: No, Brown will not turn Swedish in one