Those getting in a lather about Gordon Brown’s speaking record are ignoring tradition. The lore of the land. The former PM is behaving quite normally.
Winston Churchill spoke twice after stepping down as PM. The first time was four and a half years after leaving Downing Street, on 25th Nov 1959. Both interventions were to acknowledge birthday wishes.
Both Harold Macmillan and Mrs Thatcher spoke just four times after resigning as PM. Mrs Thatcher first spoke three months after her resignation.
After stepping down as leader of the Conservative party, John Major didn’t speak again for eight months.
Yet none of the above faced the barrage of venom which is being rained down on Gordon. Go figure. And tell your friends.
Tags: former PM speaks, gordon brown, PMs speaking in House of Commons
A lot of the fuss over the past few months has been less about his speaking record in the House, than his attendance record in Parliament.
How often did the other Prime Ministers turn up to work in Parliament after they were deposed/resigned?
@IanVisits
Sorry, that’s just wrong. He’s in Parliament a lot. We’ve seen him there ourselves and we hardly ever go there. The attacks are just attacks. He has not behaved differently to his predecessors. He’s just getting attacked a lot more.
But how many of them lost an election after less than a full term in post while still theoretically having over a decade to be in office?
Churchill and Thatcher were both close to the end of their time in the Commons, as was Macmillan if I remember correctly. And John Major actually spoke very soon after he lost the election as his replacement was yet to be elected. However, after he was replaced as leader of the Conservatives he was unlikely to say much for a while because he was on the losing side of a clearly humbling loss.
Gordon Brown’s manner of leaving Downing Street was that of a child having a temper tantrum and throwing his toys out of the pram and his lack of attendance, let alone his not speaking, has spoken volumes for the sort of person he is. He claimed he would continue to represent his constituency, but how can he do this if he can’t be bothered to turn up except when he’s ordered to by the whips?
Actually, none of Churchill,Macmillan, Thatcher or Major left behind a legacy of a country crippled by debt and a party which in ten years had done nothing for the vast majority of working families.It all started in the US, of course, and had nothing to do with the man who saved the world, and lead our party to massive defeat.
And I should point out (as you will undoubtedly give the same answer as you did above) that whilst he might have been in Westminster and even in the HoC, he hasn’t been in the chamber and been voting for the vast majority of the time this parliament has sat so far. The stats ore on the web to prove this.
I’m pretty sure the country was in heavy debt when Churchill got defeated in 1945.
Um yeah – he was over 80 and had suffered a series of strokes.
As a more general point, it’s more understandable for a leader not to speak if the successor PM is from his own party. Back seat driving and all that. When Major lost in 97 he resigned as leader but spoke at PMQs while the leadership election was fought.
@pmt008 – the Major example is not relevant, as Brown has not been leader of the Labour Party. So he hasn’t been required to speak.
Nor is it relevant that Thatcher and Macmillan were ‘close to the end of their time in the Commons’. That’s only true of Thatcher because she’d been deposed. Otherwise she’d still be trying to stay leader even now.
If you think having a child’s temper tantrum involves carefully considering the options, negotiating quietly and then withdrawing with dignity when it was clear he could not form a government, I can only commend you on your children’s good manners and suggest you acquire a sense of perspective.
As for the complaints about him failing to represent his constituents – well, if that is to stand up, I suggest you quote me a complaint from one of his constituents who is not a political activist for another party.
@Editor: ‘He’s in Parliament a lot. We’ve seen him there ourselves and we hardly ever go there. The attacks are just attacks. He has not behaved differently to his predecessors. He’s just getting attacked a lot more.’
He may well have been there, but he’s hasn’t done much. He’s voted 3 times, since the GE, all on the 6th Sept. http://bit.ly/aY7ixR
I’m with Edward.
The knives are out for Gordon no matter what he does.
And the country is not heavily in debt now either. As AJ pointed out in recently, the interest payments are a lower percentage of GDP than when the Tories last left office in 1997!
The knives are out for Gordon because he has never apologised.
The bankers apologised – but Labour has not. Labour set policy around the false belief that it had ended “Boom and Bust”. Apologise Gordon.