100 Days in Power

08.10.07


Its been over 100 days in power for the uncharismatic Gordon Brown, who has just come under harsh criticism for holding off on the would be November General Election. At the top of the list we have Tory Leader David Cameron, who wouldn’t dare miss out on an opportunity to capitalise on this possible tragic decision stating the Prime Minister is, ‘treating the British people as fools’.

If we cast our minds back to Brown’s statement to Parliament in July, we’ll see he was proposing quite the opposite when he called for a constitutional reform that entrusted more power to Parliament and the British Citizens. It would appear that the new PM was trying to steer clear of the ‘presidential style’ tag that had characterised his predecessor Tony Blair - which quite possibly lost him the vote of confidence from his constituents. Brown proposed limits on the power exercised by the Executive and a more inclusive role from the Parliament following an extension to their overall powers, he went on to suggest a written constitution may be in order to aide the people in accessing and understanding their rights.

In a likely attempt to display a ‘1st among equals’ image from the word go – that is from his acceptance speech outside Ten Downing street, Ben Macintyre of The Times suggested Gordon is being, ‘deliberately and ponderously unflashy, his every word and actions were intended to convey the unBlair, an emphatic Tony-lessness’, and certainly he is not a man of fanfare or jubilance for that matter - with a grave pending doom countenance, which might see the odd smile spread across it at some remote point.

Is anyone convinced? I think maybe not - as we are still asking is Brown the new Blair as we chuckle at one reporters ‘accidental’ slip up when he addressed the new PM as Gordon Blair. For one, Brown has several Presidential style special advisors despite the fact that they are not being Cabinet members and candidly states that he and President Bush are on exactly the same page in terms of Iraq. When asked about the Iron Fist archetype that was Margaret Thatcher, Brown stated: "she is a conviction politician. She stands very clearly for principles. I believe, and I have said before, that I am also a conviction politician." We will have to wait and see.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1996704.ece

http://www.number10.gov.uk/