Gordon Brown: Prime Minister

by Tom Bower

Book Overview

The gripping inside story of Gordon Brown's rise to become Prime Minister.

Gordon Brown's arrival at the Treasury in May 1997 was greeted with great excitement - not to mention anticipation. Officials of every rank looked on expectantly to see what miracles the chancellor would work. And so, as Master of the New Era, Brown created relationships across every Whitehall department and extended his influence to every aspect of government. He...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 000725962X
• ISBN13: 9780007259625
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 618 Pages

Customer Reviews

BROWN STUDY

It is nothing unusual for a modern British prime minister to be surrounded by jealous and manipulative rivals who are after his (or in the most striking instance her) job. The post is not, strictly speaking, a directly elected one like president of the United States or president of France. Following a general election, or occasionally the departure of the incumbent from office, the monarch summons the leader of the party with a majority in the Commons, or failing that the leader of another party that looks possibly able to form a government, and asks him or her to do so. Established practice in the matter is clear and always adhered to, but in the last resort it is a matter of convention not of statute. So the trick is to become leader of the right party. Throughout the 20th century the dominant party was the Conservative party, which has a record of deposing its leaders worthy of imperial Rome. Since 1997 there now seems to be at least a serious possibility that it has lost its hegemony, and Labour has not had enough time in office through the mere 100 years of its existence for generalisations in this respect to be made with any confidence. The old Labour party was factious and fractious but never in the end did the deed. With Blair's electorally-dominant 'New' Labour I think we are waiting to see what happens this time. Blair effectively stole a march on Gordon Brown for the leadership, but there was apparently some sort of deal, or understanding at least, between them that he would, or might, or could possibly, hand over the premiership to Brown. What this deal amounted to depends on who you listen to. What is perfectly clear is that the current governance of Britain is characterised by intense partisan infighting between the two and their respective votaries. I'm quite sure it all loses nothing in the telling by the all-pervasive political commentators, but I'm just as sure that they are not inventing it. At a recent meeting of the parliamentary Labour party the mildest and most docile members lost patience and told the pair of them with scant respect or civility to stop the whole nonsense. For this the upstarts deserve our thanks in more ways than one. In particular even those who routinely follow politics with some interest are suffering a severe overload of obsessional garrulity from the pundits, and I would personally attribute declining popular interest in political issues not least to that. This particular book is still warm off the presses and you can obtain it at remaindered prices already. I gather there are others on the same topic, and some are allegedly 'better', but for anyone whose tolerance stretches to one only this one will do not badly at the right price. The book sketches in Brown's background and makes a half-hearted attempt at explaining some facets of his personality on this basis. I imagine any reader's guess in that respect is as good as the author's. Here is a man with a compulsion to dominate but severely lacking