Was I alone in thinking that Gordon Brown implied at yesterday's PMQs that when speaking to the Chinese Premier he had told him he would be meeting the Dalai Lama when he comes to London? Later in the day, the Standard downplayed the meeting and said it would not be held in government property, and also that the Chinese were enraged.
Brown's response to Cameron's question appeared to wrongfoot the Tory leader, who had probably planned to press the PM to meet the Dalai Lama. Instead he congratulated the PM for "doing the right thing". Instead of being gracious, Brown retorted: "We always do the right thing". Sadly time does not permit me to list the hundreds of occasions when he has done the wrong thing.
Yes that is exactly as I read it Ian. I thought Brown was very rude in his reply to Cameron's words of praise.
ReplyDeleteIt now looks that Brown has NOT done the "right thing" afterall. Perhaps that is why he could not accept Cameron's praise.
Cameron should ask Brown at the next PMQs to clarify what he said to Wen about his meeting the Dalai Lama and what status this meeting will have.
Gordon Brown screwed up in his reply. He should have accepted the congratulations magnanimously. Instead he played a strong hand really badly.
ReplyDeleteNobody is always right, and his retort reinforced his arrogant and out of touch image.
That exchange between Cameron and Brown encapsulated the real difference between the two. The more the public see it the quicker the arrogant Brown will take his well deserved place in the dustbin of history.
ReplyDeleteSlightly off topic,there has been a tradition of British statemen having strong cross-party personal friendships.Brown comes across as so morose and deals with other non-brownite Labour politicians so badly that I wonder whether he has any close political friends outside his own circle.Anyone know?I hope I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteOnly hundreds of times? It does really say it all though...
ReplyDelete"Sadly time does not permit me to list the hundreds of occasions when he has done the wrong thing"
ReplyDeleteWe just have to scroll down through your blog, Iain. :)
Er, it was a joke, Iain...
ReplyDeleteI suppose it depends on what Brown's definition of 'the right thing' is.
ReplyDeleteWhat's certain is that his version is radically different from that of anyone who is sane.
'Right' also implies some sort of moral code - entirely absent in his case.
Sadly time does not permit me to list the hundreds of occasions when he has done the wrong thing.
ReplyDeleteBut for modest consideration, you can read about some of them in the Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze....
It isn't a question of Brown always doing the right thing, it is a matter of definition.
ReplyDeleteTibet has been occupied by the Chinese since they "liberated" them in 1949-50 ie 58 years during which their parliament was abolished, customs forbidden, flags banned, people controlled by a foreign power , media controlled by a compliant bunch of Brtish quislings and their wealth sent outside the country for Chinese benefit .
ReplyDeleteEngland's been occupied by the Scotto/British state for 301 years during which time all of the above have also happened to us .
Sure the British haven't got around to machine gunning the English in the streets -yet .
But give Brown time....
Brown is court in the middle. It would be good for him to do something on Tibet but realistically it is not going to happen is it?
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I think it wasn't Cambo's finest moment that "question". I have nothing against Cambo taking a moment out to praise the PM for good things he allegedly does. I think it's good occasionally.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard that he did a bit of praising, I thought it was kind of good, but upon seeing it, I wasn't as impressed.
He overdid it slightly in compensating for the fact that Brown, purely by accident of course, had trapped Cambo.
Could have been better. Of course, Brown managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet again by receiving the praise by looking like a dick rather than a statesman.
Bergen: "I wonder whether he has any close political friends outside his own circle.Anyone know?"
ReplyDeleteBroon owns no casual clothes (Fiona Millar interview) and the nearest thing to recreation he has ever enjoyed is sitting on a sofa with Charlie Whelan and Ed Balls, shouting at televised football.
Anyone outside his tiny clique of toadies is treated to Bolshevik standards of rudeness, witness the Garden Girls, European Finance Ministers and Derek Wanless, whose presentation of his study into NHS funding was drowned out by Broon making irrelevant conversation to [smelling salts at the ready?] Ed Balls.
Whoever accused him of having psychological flaws was guilty of no more than gentlemanly restraint. Flaws imply that something is otherwise intact. Broon is little better than a sociopath whose proper place is in an old style mental institution where he can pummel the padded walls with his clunking fists and amuse the visiting gentry with torrential recitations of statistics.
I`m sorry I was under the impression he was meeting the Dalai Lama ..are you saying he is not ?
ReplyDeleteI `m a bit lost what else could he possibly have meant ?
Newmania -
ReplyDeleteI think Iain's question is about what Brown discussed with the Chinese premier.
I don't think Brown claimed to have mentioned his forthcoming meeting with the Dialarama, but I could be wrong.
Very funny sketch in The Times to-day. Is Cameron going bald?
I don't read the Standard, as my wife gets the Daily Mail, which cointains much of what was in the previous day's Standard.
Nuff said!
In a word, Yes. So weak Iain, so weak.
ReplyDeleteIn fairness I don't think I would go out of my way to 'respond graciously' to the leader of the opposition telling me I was doing okay; he's supposed to ask questions not give his two pennies worth on what the PM is doing.
ReplyDeleteRupert the article in the Spectator about the Garden girls was deadly .Dealing with the pressure Brown might be under I liked the comparison with Winston Churchill who had the small matter of a World war to worry about but was always charming. In fairness it is reported that Tony Blair as well as Saint Margaret of Thatcher , Major and so on were all scrupulously considerate to those who “do not matter”. Brown is not and apparently physically attacked one poor woman. It was Iain’s friend Oborne I think who did the piece
ReplyDeletePS Anyone else notice that the Boris Busker affair was a put up job by the buskers manager who has loads of previous for silly press stories ...The Eye . I though it was odd , now Boris Johnson , there is a man or infinite jest. I have met him a few times and I can only describe him thus ...
A knight there was, and he a worthy man,
Who, from the moment that he first began
To ride about the world, loved chivalry,
Truth, honour, freedom and all courtesy.
Courtesy Brown,,....we English value it
Josh said...
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I think it wasn't Cambo's finest moment that "question". I have nothing against Cambo taking a moment out to praise the PM for good things he allegedly does. I think it's good occasionally.
"Today" this morning (Radio 4, about 6:45am), not a notably right-wing programme, reported the exchange about the Dalai Lama as a major triumph for Cameron.
They also went on to repeat his comment "call an election and you can ask me 6 questions a week", which I think was his first effective counter to Brown's attempts to answer questions with questions.
At first I thought Brown was being blackly ironic when he said "We always do the right thing." But then I realised, he doesn't do irony. He doesn't even do humour.
ReplyDeleteHe's rude and graceless. At least Blair was courteous to his adversaries. Yes, Blair was arrogant, just like Brown. But in a way Blair's arrogance was justified - he was a great political operator and manager.
Brown's arrogance is completely unjustified!
Charles Kennedy once wrote that Blair had accused him of something in the Commons that was completely untrue. An hour or so later, Kennedy said he received a handwritten note of apology from Blair.
I couldn't imagine that deviant currently in Number 10 doing that.
alex said..2.31pm
ReplyDeletePerhaps Boris has had a letter of apology from Brown?
Like you I rather doubt it. This Prime Minister believes in courage (or, he wrote a book about it!)
so he probably believes that courageous people do not do apologies!!
He is no man he is a mouse!
Another reason for the Labour Party to regret "choosing" Gordon. He failed utterly to pick up on the tone of the exchange or Cameron's body language and so made a retort which sounded an ungenerous riposte.
ReplyDeleteBrown failed totally to "think on his feet" and made himself look charmless.
It would have been better to have played Cameron at his own game and merely replied thanking him and stating that such matters were of course above party politics as "the Rt Hon Gentleman will no doubt agree ?".
But Gordon is pyschologically unable to do that of course and that's the problem for Labour who are saddled with him until he loses the election
Probably phoned to ask permission.
ReplyDelete