Here’s a primer for the modern British politician: Smile a lot, give short, punchy answers to questions, mingle easily with the public and always pretend to be enjoying it.
Or you can try it the Gordon Brown way.
The rumpled British prime minister rarely smiles, even though his handlers have tried to teach him how. He fills his speeches with obscure policy proposals, often appears uncomfortable with voters and rarely seems happy.
And that was in the good old days, during his brief political honeymoon, before he had to deal with a global financial crisis and a rebellion in his own Labour Party. His authority ebbing, his future at stake, he faced crunch time as the party’s annual convention opened yesterday.
Brown’s poll standing has gone from bad to horrendous, with the opposition Conservative Party enjoying its highest ratings since the glory days of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Some Labour members are in open revolt, raising doubts about whether he can stay in power long enough to fight the next election, due in less than two years.
“He has been greatly damaged,” said Paul Flynn, a Labour Party parliamentarian from Wales who believes Brown should not be forced out right now. “He’s at the very bottom of popularity.”
“But he’s dealing with an unprecedented world crisis, almost the collapse of capitalism, and he should do it without having to watch his back,” Flynn said.
In British politics, unlike the US presidential system, prime ministers must worry not only about being rejected by voters come election time; they can be ousted as party leader any time by their legislators and be replaced with a new prime minister.
That’s how it ended for former prime minister Tony Blair, who served 10 years before his party replaced him with Brown, and for Thatcher, the Conservative “Iron Lady,” after her record 11 years in power.
Now, after little more than a year in office, Brown faces his own rebellion. It has spread to the junior ministerial ranks with the defection of David Cairns, a minister in the government’s Scotland office who resigned and demanded an open contest for party leadership, a process that could end Brown’s rule.
The move has the support of a growing number of Labour Party lawmakers, but so far they don’t have the 70 backers — out of 350 parliamentarians — needed to force a leadership election.
However, in British politics it’s not enough for a party leader to outpoll his opponents — he has to crush them, or be seen as fatally weakened.
Some of the rebels are Blair loyalists still angry about what they see as Brown’s plot to unseat Blair; others appear motivated by fear that under Brown’s leadership they will lose their seats in the next election.
“They are getting nervous now because they can see they could all lose their seats in one night, which is what they saw happen to us,” said Malcolm Rifkind, a former foreign secretary, referring to the resounding defeat of his Conservative Party by Blair in 1997.
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