Brown presents ‘patriotic vision’
Chancellor Gordon Brown has outlined his “patriotic vision” of a future Britain.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC, the man widely expected to take over from Tony Blair as prime minister later this year said he wanted a government “of all the talents” which would be more accountable and inclusive than it had been before.
Shunning the “overbearing” nanny state which has long been associated with the Labour party, Mr Brown instead talked of integrating the big challenges – environmental, economic and ensuring security – into the lives of ordinary people.
“If you believed in the past that you could have a top-down approach. that’s not the way it’s going to work in the future,” he explained, before adding that “the service emphasis of government as incredibly important”.
This openness and accountability would be extended to parliament in Mr Brown’s vision of a future Britain; he indicated that parliament’s role in future foreign policy decisions like going to war would be extended.
But the main emphasis Mr Brown placed was on looking to a future where people were re-engaged with politics – helped by a government pointing them in the right direction.
“I feel more than anything else that I’ve been out there. listening to people. and making sure that we can link the huge changes that are taking place around the world to the personal prosperity and security and opportunity that the families in our country have a right to expect that a government can help them obtain,” he said.
The chancellor remained as reticent as ever on the subject of his prime ministerial ambitions, insisting that “you cannot predict anything in politics”.
“I don’t think one presumes anything in this business so I’m not going to get into the business of talking about individuals. Let’s wait and see what happens,” he said.
“It’s not the office you hold that matters, it’s what you do in it,” he added.
