Might Brown cry off sick?

I wonder what Gordon Brown thought of the Kennedyesque overtones which Obama wanted to put on his European visit. Kennedy is Brown’s hero, of course, and he nicks hugs amounts from his speeches. As Brown paraded Obama in No10’s back yard yesterday for the cameras, waving his arms to show he was imparting his wisdom not vice versa, he will have been praying that a little of Obama’s stardust will have worn off on him. It’s a dangerous tactic for a British Prime Minister, though. In my News of the World column today I reprint a picture of the last time a British Prime Minister tried that: Macmillan with JFK himself in 1961. At the time, Macmillan thought he’d look great being the first visitor to this young president, and would come back to London with some kudos. Instead, the image of the two of them together rammed home that the much older Macmillan was the wrong guy for this new world. Two years later, after the Profumo scandal, Macmillan realised the game was up and resigned from ill-health though he went on to live to see Thatcher at her peak. I wonder if Brown thinks of this option, whether his brain for political strategy will lead him to realise the public have taken against him and that’s that. Also that his personal unpopularity – deserved or undeserved – is looking likely to take his party out for eight years or more. There is no doubt that Brown loves the Labour Party, and he’ll also realise it’s too timid to depose him. So might he go himself? I doubt it, on the grounds that his love of power overcomes all other sentiments. But there must be times where he may wonder if an obliging doctor could give him the sick note he needs to put him out of this misery.