Witness the real Gordon Brown this afternoon

By Luke Bozier / @luke_cb

Some say that Labour’s leader Gordon Brown has been lacklustre throughout this campaign. I’d be tempted to agree. Labour’s general election campaign has hardly set the heart on fire, as I hoped it would. Labour’s hopes for re-election to a fourth term rested on the idea that if the electorate had a clear choice based on policies, and when invited to compare the different policies of each party, the British people would see the wisdom and fairness of Labour’s policies over those of the Conservatives.

But in this day and age, and one could argue since people had the responsibility of choosing their own leaders, political communication skill is as important as policy in winning elections. People are inspired by people, people aren’t as often inspired by policies. Voters want to vote for somebody they feel they can connect with on a human level, and the ability to connect authentically and comfortably with an electorate is absolutely crucial to winning elections, despite what Peter Mandelson and the Labour team would say if interviewed today. Gordon Brown has a multitude of really great strengths that frankly make it easier to sleep at night knowing somebody like him is in charge of the country, but political communication was never one of them.

Gordon’s speeches aren’t often described as ‘barnstorming’. There are the odd occasions when what Gordon says and the way he says it make the hairs on one’s neck stand up. I remember the first time I saw him speak in person, at the Bloomberg centre in central London the day it became clear he would be Labour’s leader; the passion about domestic and global issues, and the clear ability to understand and address those issues was obvious. I saw him again at the Welsh Labour conference in 2008, and his words on mothers dying in childbirth, and the story of the suffering he himself saw when travelling in Africa, were tear-jerking. This was the Gordon and I others in the party were hoping would be wheeled out to barnstorm Labour’s way back to Number 10.

Another memorable occasion is when Gordon addressed the TED conference in Oxford last year. Watch this video and I challenge you not to be inspired. Sadly that Gordon hasn’t been out much for the electorate to see during the election.

Today though, at a Citizens UK gathering in Methodist Central Hall, a stone’s through from Parliament and Westminster Abbey, Gordon spoke in a way that very few voters have ever had the chance to see. He was passionate, fluid, relaxed. He clearly relished the chance to discuss the pressing social issues of our nation with an audience that also understands and works on those issues on a daily basis. The speech was nothing short of amazing, considering the sliding fortunes of the party over the last fortnight or so. We might well be in third place in the polls, Clegg’s star might be on the rise, but Gordon Brown showed himself to be the statesman and leader that our country needs.

As a party member, I’m kicking myself that we haven’t seen Brown like this until now. In many ways it’s very late in the day to switch into turbo. Let’s just hope the media show the electorate as much of this speech as possible. Perhaps then the people will realise just what a significant figure Gordon Brown PM actually is, and just what we might be losing if we boot him out of office.

See Gordon Brown’s Citizens UK speech below: