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The King & Mr Brown

by | 26th, September 2005

‘THE King is dead! Long live the King!

‘I’m packed and ready to move in’

Not that Tony Blair is a king, more of an arch pretender in a crown made of thorns, and Gordon Brown, his successor in all but name, has more in common with John Brown than a waiting prince.

But you get the gist of it. And the Telegraph looks on as the Cabinet ministers line up to anoint Brown as Blair’s successor at the Labour Party conference in Brighton.

And leader-in-waiting Brown is already plotting great things. As the paper says on its front page, Brown wants to bring about the “renewal of New Labour” before the next General Election, the one he will most likely contest as party leader.

Which means it’s farewell New Labour and hello New New Labour, as Brown aims to go one better than Blair.

What the paper terms Brown’s “prime ministerial vision” sees the current Chancellor planning to create a “home-owning, share-owning democracy”.

This sounds terrific. But hold on a moment. Excuse us while we tug at Brown’s locks, smear a wet thumb over his face and check out his ankles. He sounds so much like Margaret Thatcher that we need to be sure the two are not one and the same.

But they are. And, in any case, Brown’s no Tory. No he is not. Really. Really! As he says: “The next election must and will be New Labour against a Conservative Party today incapable of renewal.”

Or maybe not. If New Labour is to become new New New Labour, then the Tories might like to reposition themselves. We could have the LibDems as old Labour, the Tories as New Labour and Brown’s firm as New New Labour.

It’s three party politics. It’s genius. And this way everyone will be happy when Labour wins a fourth term.

But when will this be? When will Brown take over from Blair? We have been told it will be during this parliament, but when exactly?

And we’re not the only ones growing impatient. The Independent’s front-page headlines runs: “Prescott tells Blair: name the day.”

The Indy says knowing the hour of Tony’s going would allow Brown time to get used to the job before the next General Election. Prezza would like Tony gone by the spring or summer of 2007.

Any later and Brown would have only a short time to enjoy his title before the next Election, likely to be in the spring of 2009.

For this revelation we have one Colin Brown (any relation?) to thank. He’s the Indy’s deputy political editor who has performed the enviable trick of getting his book mentioned on the paper’s front page.

One page inside the Indy and there’s a lengthy extract from the book by the paper’s in-house writer. Readers learn that after a decade of being loyal to Blair, Prescott is preparing for a different role “as kingmaker for Brown”.

We also learn that the book costs £11.99 if you order via an advertised phone number, which represents a saving of a full pound on the official price.

But we don’t get to learn when Tony will go or whether Brown will be successful. For that we may have to ask a higher power. Over to you, Cherie…’



Posted: 26th, September 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink