Conviction Politician or Political Animal?

The fourth of October marked the first 100 days of Gordon Brown’s premiership. When mounting his new seat Brown had to ensure the affection of the big majority, who felt deceived by Tony Blair, by condemning his predecessor. To do this and at the same time avoid denouncing the politics and actions he had supported for more than a decade, he had to deliver a masterpiece of a balancing act. Being unable to separate himself from the intimately interwoven politics, Brown seemed to choose a different tactical manoeuvre. He separated himself from the personal characteristics of Tony Blair.

When Brown made his first statement to Parliament, he proposed to transfer powers from the Prime Minister and Executive to Parliament - most importantly the power to declare war. This did not only state Brown’s distance to the grounds on which the country was taken into war but also marked his distance to the presidentialism of which Blair was often accused. Through a genuine rhetoric with strong emphasis on personal beliefs and morals Brown had left the shadow of Tony Blair. It seemed he had convinced the majority that Tony Blair, the great communicator and ruler had been replaced by Gordon Brown, the great listener and server.

Leading up to his 100 day anniversary Brown’s sincere appearance has begun to crumble. The Tories accused Brown’s surprises visit to Basra and Baghdad of being an immoral spin operation. It was not the only time Brown was to be accused of spinning, and the afternoon tea with Margaret Thatcher in Downing Street also put a spot on Brown’s sincerity.

But what exactly led to the negative polls on Brown’s anniversary? Appealing and sympathetic as Brown’s words about duty, honesty and equality are, the final push was not a defiance of Brown’s capability to live up to these. It was simply the excitement that David Cameron brought with him when he, much like Tony Blair in his early years, swept away his audience with a bold and renewing attitude. Like new love these kind of political gifts have a tendency to make people forget past betrayals. Consequently the question left for Gordon Brown to answer before his next anniversary will be - will he keep the characteristics that made him second lover for a decade or will the fear of losing his place to a new, charismatic leader make him change course?


Reflective report
The Gordon Brown comment piece was a set assignment in Central Government. It is aimed at evaluating Gordon Brown’s first 100 days as Prime Minister and at comparing Brown to Tony Blair.
Before I began writing, I spend a whole day reading articles about Brown trying to find the essential differences between him and Blair. I realised that their political views were not as different as I had initially thought. I used this observation when scrutinising some of Brown’s actions and understood that they could be seen as attempts to differentiate himself from Blair
As I did not have to contact any sources but could find all the information I needed on the internet, structuring the article was the most difficult part of this assignment. Having collected considerably more information than I needed, I found it difficult to se the right angle and was afraid of excluding important points. The first draft of the article was therefore too long and too complex. The angle to be chosen did not become evident to me before I shortened it the second time.
I have drawn a couple of parallels between Brows relation to the public and a love relation aimed at reflecting the very emotional “from the heart” rhetoric used by Brown. The length of this assignment was set, and cutting it to the requested 400 words gave it the right sharpness for it not to appear too speculative.