Reflecting on his time in office, the prime minister, who faced down a coup from his own party earlier this month, admitted flaws in his leadership, particularly how he presented himself to the public. "I'm not as great a presenter of information or communicator as I would like to be," he said in an interview, adding that he is not skilled at political manoeuvring. "I don't actually think I'm very good at it at all." Adding that he has been "hurt" by the personal attacks on him in the past month, calling it the toughest point of his "political life", Mr Brown admitted: "To be honest, you could walk away from all of this tomorrow. "I'm not interested in what accompanies being in power. I wouldn't worry if I never returned to all those places – Downing Street, Chequers … And it would probably be good for my children." Nonetheless, Mr Brown dismissed the supposed coup of Blairite ministers and backbenchers against him, calling it "the email that nobody signed". Despite the issues his party had faced in the last month, Mr Brown said he was confident Labour could still win the next general election for two reasons - Labour's success in handling the economy and MPs' expenses, and the Tories admission that they would make deep cuts in public spending. "People know we've made these decisions to try to sort the economy out, but they don't yet see the results. Same thing on MPs. You're in that period between the implementation of your policy and the delivery of it," he said. He said the idea any party in government would need to cut public spending was "a myth", arguing the Tories' strategy proved they could no longer "talk about being mainstream". In the interview with The Guardian, Mr Brown also spoke of the "common purpose" between Lord Mandelson and him, saying that the Labour party had finally come round to Lord Mandelson, adding that he felt "there's a great affection for him now". Gordon Brown: 'I could walk away from office tomorrow'
Gordon Brown has admitted he has been "hurt" by the personal attacks on him in the past month, saying he could "walk away from office" tomorrow.
Saturday, 20 June 2009
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