Macavity the Prime Minister
Absolutely astounding that Gordon Brown thinks that he can somehow pretend that the reason he is not in Lisbon to sign the European Union Reform Treaty is because of an important parliamentary engagement. Not only would this normally not worry him but also of course the MPs concerned offered to rearrange the hearing he was attending. The real reason Gordon Brown was not in Lisbon to sign the Treaty is he does not want the press back home and the public to make a great issue of him signing the European Constitution. I suppose a possible alternative would have been to have him superimposed James Purnell style, on the group photo but that doesn’t seem to have occurred to anybody.
Now it’s perfectly possible to make out a strong case for saying this is a significant moment, indeed it’s a significant moment in European terms and if he believes signing the treaty is the right thing to do he should have been there with the other leaders. He has left it to poor Mr. Milliband to shake hands with an usher. She seemed presentable and it may be that the Labour Party wishes it could present her at the next election as P.M. rather than Mr Brown.
Whatever yesterday constituted it certainly wasn’t a sign of strong leadership on behalf of our Prime Minister and once again it just looked like the Prime Minister being a political manipulator rather than a national statesman. It is just how all those Blairites said it would be.
