Gordon Brown is about to deliver his speech to a Joint Session of Congress. When Blair addressed one in 2003, he received 19 standing ovations. Brown by having the Queen offer the ailing Teddy Kennedy an honorary knighthood has sweetened the mood and guaranteed him a few standing ovations.
One problem for Brown is that it is harder to hit the rhetorical high notes in a speech that focuses mainly on the economy than in one on foreign policy. Whatever you think of the content, Blair’s speech in 2003 was a rhetorical tour de force. In that respect, the bar is set almost impossibly high for Brown. He’s also far less of a draw in the US. As one US journalist friend of mine said to me last night, ‘Brown’s a good second or third story’ while Blair was a lead.
4.10 Congress rises to applaud Brown. Brown starts by saying how ‘America’s faith in the future’ is an inspiration to him and the whole world: a crowd-pleasing start.
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