THE SUNDAY TIMES: Andrew Rawnsley's new book paints an all-too familiar portrait of Gordon Brown's struggle to cope with the responsibilities of running the country, writes Benedict Brogan.
So that’s what Alastair Campbell meant when he complained about Gordon Brown’s ‘psychological flaws’. At the time the phrase had a hugely debilitating effect on Tony Blair’s leadership; now it reads like the mother of all understatements. If an even temperament is a vital quality in a leader, then Mr Brown should never have been allowed through the door of Number 10.
The wealth of detail laid out in Andrew Rawnsley’s latest book may get the odd recollection wrong here and there, but the overall picture of Mr Brown is all too accurate. This is a terrible portrait of a complex man overwhelmed by the demands of the job he coveted, who under pressure projects his frustrations outwards at those around him, most shamefully at those with no power to answer back.
The result is excruciating to behold. A British Prime Minister is reduced to issuing official statements denying that he has ever hit anyone, like the man in the joke asked ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’ What must those tiresome foreigners he disdained so much – ‘why do I have to meet these f****** people!’ - be making of him now?
To those operating in Westminster there is nothing startling here. Mr Brown’s capacity for anger is well known, as is his inability to make snap decisions, another essential requirement of high office. His allies defend these aspects of his character as the unavoidable counterpart to his towering intellect the price we pay for the leadership he showed in the financial crisis. Those explanations have worn thin, and are heard less frequently these days. >>> Benedict Brogan | Sunday, February 21, 2010
WELT ONLINE: ”The End of the Party” – Neues Buch zeigt Gordon Brown als Tyrannen: Der britische Premierminister Brown wird in einem neu erschienenen Buch als Rüpel dargestellt, der seine Mitarbeiter einschüchtert, anpöbelt und auch mal am Kragen packt. Autor Andrew Rawnsley nutzt sein Insider-Wissen und liefert der Opposition reichlich Munition für die bald anstehende Wahl. >>> Von Thomas Kielinger | Montag, 22. Februar 2010
