Argus title : Brown needs to trust the British people
Gordon Brown has done pretty well since he took over from Tony Blair. He is no radical, but then unlike Blair, he never pretended to be. He’s a soft-hearted free marketeer, a conviction politician from a solidly right-wing Labour stable,
Brown coped well in his crisis-ridden first month, quietly ditched some of Blair’s worst initiatives, distanced Britain from Washington – to the extent of crawling out from under Bush’s behind – and is carrying through the public’s demand for withdrawal from Iraq.
Brown’s popularity has been high, not just because his presence in Downing Street cocks a snook at his predecessor, but also because he appears “unspun”, competent and deeply serious. He has succeeded in appearing trustworthy to an electorate sickened by lies and duplicity. The difficulty is that though he may not lie like Blair, he does not always tell the truth. Continue reading