Monday, April 11, 2005

Brown lifts Labour's hopes for big majority

Brown lifts Labour's hopes for big majority

Today's MORI poll, putting Labour seven points ahead among people certain to vote, will be seen as evidence of a 'Brown bounce', following the return of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the campaign's centre stage.

Brown was persuaded to take a bigger role in the campaign after Blair dropped threats to sack him following the election


That's one thing you get in the US presidential system that you don't in a parliamentary system: a running mate. But it appears that Gordon Brown is serving as Tony Blair's de facto running mate, even doing joint interviews with the Prime Minister.

There seems to be a lot of assumption that Blair will resign ("stand down" in Britspeak) midterm and Brown will become Prime Minister at that time. Sort of like Bill Clinton running for a third term and everyone knowing that Gore would take over after a couple years. But here's another analogy:

One participant said that, without Brown beside Blair, the country would be 'in a state', while another said Brown reminded her of Yes, Prime Minister 's artful underling, Sir Humphrey, 'who was really running the show, but the Prime Minister thought he was doing it'.


Is Brown the UK's Dick Cheney?

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