Many Labour MPs and some of his own advisers are telling Gordon Brown to slow down a bit aND prioritise more. He looks washed out, they say, and his instinct to work even harder because he's in trouble is not doing him any favours.
There is another side to this story. As Tony Blair told GMTV: "When you're Prime Minister, you sit there and literally there's half a dozen things happening that you don't expect every day and you've got to take a decision on them."
A lot of Brown's stuff is unavoidable, aides insist. His diary yesterday was instructive. A 7am summit on knife crime was followed by meetings with the President of Cyprus, the European Commission President and the King of Jordan. Brown also juggled interviews on sport and defence. And there are always things below the radar.
All week the PM has been trying to talk Labour MPs out of voting against 42 day detention for terrorist suspects ahead of next week's crucial Commons vote, often in telephone calls while they are away from Westminster. But he had to devote a lot more time to averting a crisis over the Northern Ireland peace process, which could have gone off the rails when Sinn Fein threatened to block the appointment of Peter Robinson, Ian Paisley's successor, as First Minister.
Brown may look worn out and as if he is not enjoying it. But despite the massive pressure on him, close allies insist he is remarkably resilient. They tell me he's perky and cheerful when conducting his telephone diplomacy over 42 days. There will doubtless be a lot more of that this weekend while he's supposedly relaxing at Chequers. No wonder the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is advising him to get a proper holiday this summer.
To be honest a lot of the narrative about Brown looking washed out and tired and not enjoying his job seems to be suiting the Tories and part of the general narrative about him not being up to being PM and a terrible Prime Minister.
In reality there is very little to suggest it's anything other than the fact he's 57, which is older than Blair, and not liable to walk around grinning like a loon, which is what Blair and Cameron do so well.
Posted by: Labourboy | Friday, 06 June 2008 at 04:32 PM
"Slow down a bit"?
And just what, exactly, has the indolent slug been over-taxing himself with?
The raft of measures to ensure banks don't overextend themselves again? The punishing foreign visits to Britain's European neighbours? The initiative to raise standards in British schools? Visting hospitals to see the situation for himself? Organizing Britain's withdrawal from Iraq? Campaigning to have Guantanamo shut down "using Britain;s influence with America"?
ROFL!!
Posted by: Neil McGowan | Saturday, 07 June 2008 at 03:47 PM