Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
May 11, 2007
By Don Melvin, Cox News Service
LONDON -- Chancellor Gordon Brown of Britain, who will in seven weeks realize his lifelong dream of becoming prime minister, is in many ways the antithesis of Tony Blair.
Brown is dour, not sunny; methodical rather than deft; introverted, not extroverted. So will he, like Blair, be "Bush's poodle," as the British media calls the prime minister?
Not likely, specialists say. While the trans-Atlantic relationship will remain strong, a little chill in the air, a little tension here and there, will suit the incoming prime minister just fine.
And he may well take a fresh look at the military involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq, where British soldiers are fighting and dying -- military commitments that did much to hasten the end of Blair's career.
"I think there will be some changes in the mood music, as it were -- and I think particularly in regard to Iraq and the Washington relationship," said James Naughtie, whose book "The Rivals" explored the long and complicated relationship between Blair and Brown.
"I'm not suggesting for a moment that Brown will deliberately provoke a confrontation with Bush or anything as crude as that," Naughtie said. "He won't. But I think he'll want to project a quite different feeling about his approach to Iraq. And frankly I do not think that Brown would lose a moment's sleep if there were a few headlines over the summer saying that the relationship with the White House is cooling down."
More than a decade ago, Brown, now 56, was Blair's friend and partner in a successful effort to pull the Labor Party away from the left, toward the center, and into office.
A Scotsman, Brown is a serious academic, a loner, a relentlessly ambitious man who is confrontational and so deadly serious that it has become routine to describe him as brooding: A Google search on "Gordon Brown" and "brooding" yields 12,500 citations.
Brown wanted to run for party leader in 1994. But in a dinner conversation with Blair that has been widely reported but never confirmed by the participants, Brown agreed to step aside to clear the way for Blair if, after a period of time, Blair would resign and clear the path for Brown.
Labor swept into power 10 years ago. Brown has been waiting -- and brooding -- ever since. He and Blair, once best friends, have been at once partners in government and bitter rivals for power.
Now at last the prize is within Brown's grasp. He knows America well . He has long been in contact with American economists, primarily people who served under President Clinton. He enjoys vacationing on Cape Cod.
He knows America far better than Blair. But several factors point to a different tone in relations with Washington.
For one thing, despite being Blair's partner in government for a decade, Brown now needs to establish his own identity. For another, he is by nature more bulldog than poodle.
And the "Bush's poodle" tag -- with its implication that Blair would heel, roll over, and invade other countries at Bush's command -- is a liability Brown will want to avoid.
Trans-Atlantic relations, which are based primarily on ties between, for example, the intelligence communities and national security advisers in the two countries, will not be fundamentally harmed, said Bob Worcester, the head of one of Britain's largest polling firms.
But Brown will respond to the "political imperative" to distinguish himself from Blair with "small gestures for domestic consumption," Worcester said.
Beyond that, said Naughtie, Brown is simply different from Blair. There won't be any backslapping with Bush, any "cuddling up" at the White House, or any wearing of jeans at Camp David, Naughtie predicted.
"He knows that Bush is on the down escalator," Naughtie said.
May 11, 2007
By Don Melvin, Cox News Service
LONDON -- Chancellor Gordon Brown of Britain, who will in seven weeks realize his lifelong dream of becoming prime minister, is in many ways the antithesis of Tony Blair.
Brown is dour, not sunny; methodical rather than deft; introverted, not extroverted. So will he, like Blair, be "Bush's poodle," as the British media calls the prime minister?
Not likely, specialists say. While the trans-Atlantic relationship will remain strong, a little chill in the air, a little tension here and there, will suit the incoming prime minister just fine.
And he may well take a fresh look at the military involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq, where British soldiers are fighting and dying -- military commitments that did much to hasten the end of Blair's career.
"I think there will be some changes in the mood music, as it were -- and I think particularly in regard to Iraq and the Washington relationship," said James Naughtie, whose book "The Rivals" explored the long and complicated relationship between Blair and Brown.
"I'm not suggesting for a moment that Brown will deliberately provoke a confrontation with Bush or anything as crude as that," Naughtie said. "He won't. But I think he'll want to project a quite different feeling about his approach to Iraq. And frankly I do not think that Brown would lose a moment's sleep if there were a few headlines over the summer saying that the relationship with the White House is cooling down."
More than a decade ago, Brown, now 56, was Blair's friend and partner in a successful effort to pull the Labor Party away from the left, toward the center, and into office.
A Scotsman, Brown is a serious academic, a loner, a relentlessly ambitious man who is confrontational and so deadly serious that it has become routine to describe him as brooding: A Google search on "Gordon Brown" and "brooding" yields 12,500 citations.
Brown wanted to run for party leader in 1994. But in a dinner conversation with Blair that has been widely reported but never confirmed by the participants, Brown agreed to step aside to clear the way for Blair if, after a period of time, Blair would resign and clear the path for Brown.
Labor swept into power 10 years ago. Brown has been waiting -- and brooding -- ever since. He and Blair, once best friends, have been at once partners in government and bitter rivals for power.
Now at last the prize is within Brown's grasp. He knows America well . He has long been in contact with American economists, primarily people who served under President Clinton. He enjoys vacationing on Cape Cod.
He knows America far better than Blair. But several factors point to a different tone in relations with Washington.
For one thing, despite being Blair's partner in government for a decade, Brown now needs to establish his own identity. For another, he is by nature more bulldog than poodle.
And the "Bush's poodle" tag -- with its implication that Blair would heel, roll over, and invade other countries at Bush's command -- is a liability Brown will want to avoid.
Trans-Atlantic relations, which are based primarily on ties between, for example, the intelligence communities and national security advisers in the two countries, will not be fundamentally harmed, said Bob Worcester, the head of one of Britain's largest polling firms.
But Brown will respond to the "political imperative" to distinguish himself from Blair with "small gestures for domestic consumption," Worcester said.
Beyond that, said Naughtie, Brown is simply different from Blair. There won't be any backslapping with Bush, any "cuddling up" at the White House, or any wearing of jeans at Camp David, Naughtie predicted.
"He knows that Bush is on the down escalator," Naughtie said.
