18 April, 2008

Mr Brown

Amidst all the talk about Gordon Brown it is worth remembering that it can’t be easy being a long-serving deputy. You have supported your predecessor through thick and thin, and when the time comes to take over you find it difficult to look like something new. And you are, in part, responsible for whatever mire the country is in.

The last fifty years have thrown up four dominant figures in British politics: Macmillan, Wilson, Thatcher and Blair, all succeeded by weak administrations: Eden, Callaghan, Major and Brown. And each long serving Prime Minister, succeeded by a weak deputy, has given way to a long serving one from the other side.

Good omen for Mr Cameron?

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