I’ve just got around to watching some of Gordon Brown’s appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday (you can see footage here). It wasn’t that bad, actually. If anything, he came across as relaxed, confident and – shock, horror – fairly witty. One can’t help but view it all as a long message to David Miliband. Something like “Look, you ungrateful upstart, I can do ‘Man of the People’; I can do charming. And I’m completely at ease with all your plotting”.
But there was more to it than that. He dimissed claims that Britain is broken, and made reference to the general resolve and decency of the British public:
“I don’t think the British people have ever been broken by anything or anyone … I feel there is so much good being done in different parts of our country … I think Britain is basically a decent, compassionate society and most people want to see things change for the better.”
It’s an obvious effort to put clear, red water between Labour and the Tories’ Broken Britain narrative. It’s a risky approach – after all, he’s still got to admit to many of the same problems (e.g. that knife crime is “the biggest problem at the moment” in certain areas), and it could seem like he’s being dismissive of people’s worries. But it’s a different tack nonetheless. And it could be central to Brown’s forthcoming relaunch. Can you imagine him applying a similar argument to the credit crunch? Saying that British pluck will get us thorugh the bad times? Using Britishness as a rallying call? I can.
Although this surprise appearance won’t have Brown’s leadership rivals quaking in their boots, it will give them pause for thought. The Prime Minister is sketching out a “vision”, and he seems to be up for the fight. For the time being, that may just be enough.
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