British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged to improve Britain's free schools and hospitals on Monday in a speech to the Labour Party faithful which fired their enthusiasm for an early general election.
"I will not let you down. I will stand up for our schools and hospitals ... I will stand up for a strong Britain," said Brown, making his eagerly awaited first speech as leader to Labour's annual conference.
The conference, always an important event for the party rank-and-file to debate policy, was especially important this year as it gave Brown a chance to set his stamp on the party, led for the past 13 years by former prime minister Tony Blair.
Widely viewed as his personal manifesto for a possible early general election, the 63-minute address was heavily-slanted toward domestic issues such as education, health and crime as well as national identity.
His speech went down well with Labour members who gave Brown a standing ovation at the start and end of his speech.
"I thought it was electric, he's made my heart beat fast," said Nicole Murphy, a 44-year-old nurse.
But many newspapers wondered yesterday where Brown would find the money to fund the raft of initiatives outlined in his speech.
And some wondered why a party that has been in power for 10 years was only now addressing such issues, especially when Brown as chancellor of the exchequer under Blair effectively controlled domestic policy.
The Sun, Britain's best-selling daily, said Brown's speech rang "all the bells and whistles for the voters he needs for a fourth Labour term" but like its right-wing sister paper the Times said there was no such thing as a free lunch.
"They carry a huge price tag which must be paid by taxpayers if and when they are delivered," it said in an editorial.
"And throughout his speech it was impossible to forget Mr Brown has been effectively co-ruler of Britain for the last 10 years as chancellor," it said.
The Sun also bemoaned the fact that Brown spent only 12 seconds on the new EU treaty. On Monday, it accused him of signing away Britain's history and traditions by refusing a referendum on the issue.
The right-wing Daily Mail said there were other questions such as why was he now pledging to introduce tougher controls on immigration and sounded a note of scepticism on his vow to put education at the top of his agenda.
The Financial Times praised Brown's "noble goals" and supported his pledge to raise people's aspirations and get them to fulfil their potential.
But it said there was "plenty of `what' but not enough `how'" and little policy substance.
The Independent praised a "workmanlike" performance, but questioned how Brown's objectives could be met. It also said the way he "slid over" Iraq and Afghanistan was "shameful."
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS