The real big idea in Gordon's speech
- 22 Jun 06, 11:46 AM
Pity the spinner and the spun to. For 24 of the 36 hours before Gordon Brown made his latest Mansion House speech ( or watch it here) I was supposed to be covering it: I had even dug my black tie out of the back of the wardrobe. Then the editors of Newsnight decided Thames Water was a less boring story than Gordon on Globalisation. But in the middle of a reed clump in the , Brent, I got a call from Gordon鈥檚 people alerting me that 鈥 like a well aimed outswinger on a humid day at Trent Bridge 鈥 the message of the great man鈥檚 speech had curved, late in its trajectory, away from globalisation and towards nuclear annihilation.
Was I aware, the 鈥渟ources close鈥, asked me, that the nuclear issue was the 鈥渓ast of the big issues to be sorted out in the next six to eighteen months鈥? And that this was Gordon speaking 鈥渁s himself鈥 and 鈥渙utside his remit as Chancellor鈥?
Actually yes I was 鈥 and having heard the full speech I wish that Gordon Brown鈥檚 spinmeisters had actually stuck to the original top line, namely Britain鈥檚 role in a globalised economy, because it is on getting that right 鈥 rather than maintaining the theoretical ability to outnuke Vladimir Putin 鈥 that the UK鈥檚 future probably depends...
