Bad news travels

Context is all in politics and, with the government widely considered to be in big trouble, every piece of bad news is making waves. So, the Labour peer Lord Desai’s observation that “Gordon Brown was put on earth to remind people how good Tony Blair was” is going to be headline news for the rest of the day, ensuring that Brown has yet another bad news cycle.

Brown also can’t be too pleased with the Reuters preview of his day in Washington which, after noting his scheduled meeting with the three presidential contenders, says this about his meeting with the President: “He then goes to the White House to meet Bush, who shares the British prime minister’s plight — low popularity and economic problems at home.”