The Gordon Brown interview in The Guardian is revealing about the man. As Fraser noted earlier, Brown takes the opportunity of the interview to lie again about his spending plans. He also does the classic Brown trick of saying he won’t use his children for political gain even as he has them come in and play as he is interviewed. He seems oblivious to this clear double-talk.
Brown’s response to the question of whether he knew about Damian McBride’s habit of sending journalists abusive texts is comic:
“I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that. It’s not what I do. Anyway, I don’t text. But when that behaviour was discovered: out! Gone! Away! No longer working for me. And I think if you look at the people who work in our office … it’s people who’ve come from charities, academic life, business …”
If Brown really didn’t know, it would only have been because he chose not to know. Indeed, The Spectator published a set of McBride’s blasts back in May 2007. One really does wonder with Brown if he has convinced himself of his alternative version of reality, one in which he is a principled politician who does the right thing and has no time for low politics.
Brown does, though, seem to know what he will do next, saying, “I could move to teaching …” Failed politicians tend to end up at either the European Commission or the Kennedy School at Harvard. It seems that Brown has his sights on Harvard.
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