Gary Gibbon
There was a possibility that the trade unions would try to revive their power to inflict defeats on the leadership in contemporary resolution votes – they surrendered to a self-neutering on this when Gordon Brown took over at No.10 in 2007, as a gesture of goodwill.
Gary Gibbon
The battle is on to define Labour’s last conference before the general election. The Tories say it’s the dying gasp of a party that’s on its last legs. Labour argues that with policies like the shift of £1bn from the NHS capital (building) fund to bring cancer referrals down to one week, it proves there…
There was one bright spot in the Prime Minister’s day at the UN on Thursday. Colonel Gaddafi did not bother to turn up for the security council meeting. It’s just a coincidence that Libya happens to hold one of the rotating seats on the council at the moment but we all expected it was a…
Snub-gate has made it on board Air Force One. The row over whether or not Gordon Brown was “snubbed” by President Obama because he didn’t get a sit-down, one-on-one, meeting with him (despite repeated requests from Downing Street) has now been taken up by the White House press corps. On board the presidential plane…
Gordon Brown is a very angry man today. That much was obvious from my all too brief encounter with him this afternoon. I was holed up in the tiny offices the British mission have here in the UN building along with political editors from BBC, ITV Sky and Five News. Waiting to take our turns…
Gary Gibbon
Brown speaks of ‘cuts’ at the TUC; a small demo greets the opening of the Prime Minister’s speech.
Gary Gibbon
Gordon Brown prepares to talk about “cuts” in his speech to the TUC Conference – but will the unions bay for blood?
Gary Gibbon
Cabinet ministers and opposition politicians are engaging in aggressive pre-election campaign rhetoric. But the fight is yet to come.
GMB boss Paul Kenny tells a private meeting at the TUC conference that he warned Gordon Brown he would be finished as a political force if he followed the Conservative spending cuts agenda.
Gary Gibbon
The gap that has opened up between Gordon Brown’s approval ratings and David Cameron’s is among the biggest between any PM and opposition leader since 1983.
Gary Gibbon
Gordon Brown’s team has been scouring the globe for precedents for the electoral bounceback now required. They think they’ve found one in Australia. In the 2001 General Election there, conservative (Liberal) prime minister John Howard was trying to win a third term, flat on his back at 30 per cent of the poll at the…
Gary Gibbon
The most interesting line in Gordon Brown’s statement today was the most gnomic. “Were we right to spell out to ourselves the consequences of both eventualities, whether it was a Scottish decision for his release or for him remaining in prison? Yes – to have failed to have done so… would’ve been failing in our…
Gary Gibbon
Gordon Brown is a politician, like few others in the UK, who knows and reveres the achievements of the Kennedy dynasty, but an on-camera tribute could fuel the row over his silence on Lockerbie bomber release.
Gary Gibbon
Gordon Brown appears at No 10 with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, but does not budge on Lockerbie bomber release.
Gary Gibbon
Why Gordon Brown is being advised to maintain his silence on the release of convicted Libyan al-Megrahi.