The charm offensive continues

Oh dear. Another unnerving TV-appearance from Gordon Brown today – this time on ‘This Morning’ with Fern Britton (you can watch it here). As Britton says, it’s “an opportunity for [Brown] to be a human being”…

The ITV morning chat-show may not be known for rigorous political interviewing, but Britton is surprisingly tenacious. When Brown’s talking about “political instability in the Middle East” being behind rising fuel prices, she interjects: “Yes, but how much tax do you put on the fuel?” Brown’s taken aback, and mumbles, “if you take the £1.10 [a litre cost of petrol], then [fuel duty’s] a high part of it.”  Doesn’t he know the actual figure? As Fraser notes here, 66p of that £1.10 is Treasury tax.

There are more Brownie-style stunts – again, he claims that he’s putting pressure on OPEC to lower oil prices, and there’s the usual line about how America’s responsible for all our fiscal woes.  For these and more, I’d recommend you watch it all the way through.

Hat-tip: Three