By Andrew Grice in Manchester
An impressive, hour-long speech by Gordon Brown, the best I have heard him make, and very different to his usual one to the Labour conference. It needed to be special, given his dire position in the opinion polls and the doubts about him in his own party. He passed the test. I'm sure his closest advisers had to twist both his arms to get him to make such a highly personal address, but he did it and he pulled it off.
The atmosphere in the conference hall was electric. Sarah Brown pulled off a masterstroke by unexpectedly introducing her husband. The audience was willing him to succeed, but her appearance made it even easier for him to win over the party faithful, who gave him several standing ovations DURING the speech, as well as at the end.
It was a powerful rallying cry, a reminder of Labour's mission: as Brown put it, not about statistics (like those he used to rattle off with machine-gun delivery in his speeches) but changing the lives of individuals.
It definitely convinced his party - for now, at least. But the $64m question is whether it will persuade the country to take fresh look at the Prime Minister. Some Labour MPs and ministers I have spoken to are not sure; their worry is that people have made their minds up about Brown and are no longer listening to him. But there is a ray of hope. One speech, however good, will not transform the voters' view of the PM. But if he handles the global financial crisis well, they might just show some grudging respect - and then, perhaps, give him a second chance.
Gordon Brown is not understood well by the British public and at last he came out of his shell and has showed that he can do the job as well as or even better than his opponents and cynics. We the better part of British public trust him wholeheartedly and he will deliver as good as the best prime ministers of our country. The country and especially the media should stop harrowing him and give him a chance to show his mettle. It is disgusting the way people and the press carry on
Posted by: malcolm ferns | Wednesday, 24 September 2008 at 03:36 PM
I am quite willing to believe that the speech was very good however I didnt't hear it, and I think his big problem is that neither did the vast majority of potential Labour Voters.
Given the ammount of time Gorden Brown as spent as a senior member of Government, first as Chanceller and now Prime Minister I think most people's opionion of Gorden Brown is far too entrenched for one, or a dozen, speeches to make much difference.
Posted by: Andrew Wimble | Wednesday, 24 September 2008 at 05:10 PM
You are so easily impressed ! I wish I was a secondhand car dealer or an encyclopedia salesman or even double glazing or Insurance as you would definitely be the easiest touch. Brown is a Liar, a fraud and needs to be gone.
Posted by: Russell | Wednesday, 24 September 2008 at 06:09 PM
The main theme of a Fair Britain is clearly a lie as this government created a situation that is totally unfair to England - Scottish MPs vote on English funding and then SNPs carve up the disproportionte booty. Whats fair about denying the voters who overwhelmingly want a Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Putting a liar in the treasury without any econoic or finacial qualifications was fair - Deliberately engineering the Mother of all Housing bubbles while failing to regulate the finance sector was fair ?
Browns definition of fairness is to bribe a maximum number of unfortunates to be dependent on the state. How about creating real opportunity by reducing tax and dependency ?
10p was fair was it ?
NHS Drug policy based on the lottery post codes is fair?
The stealth tax increases while claiming to reduce tax is fair ?
Not declaring the size of the PFI funding debt and black hole of Civil Service pension debt is fair is it -
Just how much does HMG really owe - Be fair - for once in your bitter twisted little life be fair
TELL THE TRUTH - BE A MAN - NOT JUST BROWN ....
Posted by: Paul Mossman | Wednesday, 24 September 2008 at 09:21 PM
An impressive speech? OH, PLEASE! It was wooden, forced, humourless, biased, boring and ignored every single piece of damage its mentally unbalanced speaker has been party to in the last 11 years. Yes, I really mean mentally unbalanced. I watched a video of an earlier McBroon speech with a psychiatric nurse of 30 years' standing. He assured me Broon's body language is that of a deeply disturbed and unhappy individual. This apology for a man should be tarred and feathered and sent back to Scotland and kept there in secure accommodation for the rest of his life.
Posted by: Les Gibson | Wednesday, 24 September 2008 at 10:08 PM