The image that exposed Gordon Brown

[liberalpragmatist]

The image that exposed Gordon Brown

By Philip Stephens

Published: September 8 2006 12:46 | Last updated: September 8 2006 12:46

The quiet pop of a camera flashbulb as a ministerial limousine pulled out of a side entrance to Downing Street and, in less than a second, the political game had changed. It had all been going so well for Gordon Brown. Labour MPs were in uproar, and Tony Blair in headlong retreat. But, in politics, accidents happen.

On Wednesday afternoon, a resourceful photographer – Vincent Bruno of Getty Images – snatched that picture: the chancellor grinning broadly from the back of his car as he left a bitter encounter with the prime minister at No 10. By the following morning, the image was on every front page. And Mr Brown was in hurried tactical retreat.

Gordon BrownA big part of the fun of politics is the way that the smallest, unexpected turn can transform the dynamics of the most momentous events. A word out of place here, an unnoticed microphone there, and everything changes. Mr Blair is still paying the price of the inadvertent broadcast of his private conversation with George W Bush at the G8 summit. Now it is Mr Brown’s turn.

Until that grin, the chancellor had been in hiding. Refusing all interviews, he had instructed his police protection staff to shoo away the television crews and so-called snappers from outside his London home. His movements, particularly those into and out of Downing Street, were a closely guarded secret.



... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e3308056-3f2b-11db-a37c-0000779e2340.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Clarke's gone way beyond calling the grin 'stupid' now

(and how can you tell what he was grinning about? The driver might have just told him a joke, or said something nice about his baby, or the fact his niece was getting married last Friday)

See thread in UK forum: Clarke calls Brown 'deluded', 'control freak'

[yurbud]

2. sounds like lamer character assassination than "Dean Scream"