Gordon’s best when he’s himself

By James Valentine

Foreign affairs is clearly one of Gordon Brown’s strengths – the question is, will it come over in the debate?

One of my best election experiences so far was last weekend’s seminar about foreign affairs and overseas development held at the OU in Milton Keynes. The audience was composed mainly of academics and NGO representatives.

Brown gave a presentation, below, about changing perceptions in foreign affairs since 1945, starting with the Holocaust and covering humanitarian disasters in Ethiopia and the massacres in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The theme was that moral responsibility extends across national boundaries. Politicians and diplomats are still learning to cope with this reality but, together with NGOs, are increasingly able to mobilise public opinion.

The main aspect that struck me was the ease with which Brown handled a series of detailed questions from the expert audience. He was clearly on top of the subject both in terms of his historical perspective and his clear ability to work with and influence other world leaders and international organisations. I couldn’t help observing to a colleague that Cameron wouldn’t have had the skill or knowledge to handle such an occasion.

The other thing I noticed was David Miliband and Douglas Alexander – who were both present and on excellent form – the easy way in which Brown referred some of the questions to them, and the common understanding which was clearly present about the main foreign policy issues. We hear much about how the leading players are supposed to be at war with each other, but as far as this key area is concerned, Team Labour is certainly working.

I sometimes attend Labour’s international reception at Conference which is attended by overseas socialist parties and representatives from the embassies. Soon after Brown took over there were critical comments in the media about how he was too serious and not enough of a television “personality”. I vividly remember the astonishment of some of the overseas representatives from India and elsewhere who really couldn’t understand why a well-informed and serious individual was apparently so unpopular.

Appearances are, of course, not everything. David Cameron has an easy manner and a good TV presence and yet he is not quite sure what he believes in – it’s as if he’s always remembering lines, rather than speaking from the heart. The public and media have clearly latched onto this. The Tigger-like Clegg will bounce onto the stage optimistically this evening and he is by all means an appealing character with some good ideas. But now he’s under scrutiny and some of the Lib Dems’ policies, like their crazy regional immigration cap idea, could trip him up.

I just hope that Brown, an internationalist to his fingertips, can simply be himself, as he was last Saturday.