26/09/2006 9:56:39 am
Boring, Brown! Yesterday afternoon, Gordon Brown gave the speech of his life at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester. Labour has been in power since 1997, led by the dynamic and modernising Tony Blair. Mr Brown has desired to take over for years and a tough battle between the men has raged. Brown had to prove that he has what a British Prime Minister has top have, in terms of ideas and character. The British situation is not unlike that in Sweden before the recent elections, with a party that has ruled for many years and a new, moderate and young leader of the Conservative opposition. Labour is trailing in the opinion polls.

Mr Blair has been a fantastic visionary and a great speaker - also challenging his party over and over again. Many of Mr Brown?s supporters hoped that he would get back to the more leftist roots. To his credit, he did not. But his speech was not particularly elegant and on substance it was a traditional political speech. News in details, such as citizenship tests, but nothing more than fine words about the long-term perspective. He did not, as the outgoing Swedish Government, claim that everything is perfect in his country already. Instead, he said that the challenges of the future are greater than those we have already overcome. But he was not inspiring or thinking new.

Mr Blair once said that New Labour and Britain are at their best when at their boldest. This doesn?t seem to be a main scenario for the Party or the Government if Mr Brown does take over in the end.

Read the speech here - >