NOT Gordon Brown
- 22 Jun 07, 05:57 PM
After Gordon Brown comes "NOT Gordon Brown". The man who's occupied Number 11 for the past decade is engaged in a systematic effort to prove that he'll be different - not just from Tony Blair, but from his old self. Just watch today's 大象传媒 interview with him (which you can do by clicking here) and you'll see what I mean.
Confronted by suggestions that he's difficult to work with, Mr Brown said that he'd learnt and as prime minister would reach out and build consensus.
Asked about Treasury spin, he admitted - for the first time - that taxes HAD gone up.
Asked about the alleged problem of being a Scottish MP running Britain post-devolution, he pledged to be sensitive to the 85% of the population which is English.
For those of us who've been asking him questions for the past decade there's a noticeable change in style too - softer, shorter answers - that's right, answers to questions.
Gordon Brown knows that he has one brief opportunity and one alone to change people's impressions of him and the government he's about to lead. The past few days have shown he'll do anything he can to do just that.
PS: Mary Ann Sieghart made this very point in The Times today about Gordon Brown's behaviour. You can read her article .
Just been interviewing Gordon Brown along with my fellow 大象传媒 editors - John Simpson (world) and Evan Davis (economics) and World at One's Martha Kearney. Gordon Brown promises an EU referendum "if necessary" - which, of course, begs the question who decides what's necessary. The answer, naturally, is Gord himself.
