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I'll lead labour to next election
PM Gordon Brown talks to Political Editor Ian Kirby
DEFIANT: 'I'm getting on with job'
TODAY Gordon Brown throws down a defiant challenge to Labour rebels - declaring he WILL be leading the party at the next election.
In an exclusive interview with the News of the World, the Prime Minister insisted he has NO intention of quitting and will NOT be blown off course.
Hunched over a table on a Eurostar train to Brussels, Mr Brown still looks exhausted and has clearly lost weight after the debacle of poll defeats and a forced Cabinet reshuffle.
But despite headlines yesterday suggesting he was ready to throw in the towel, based on an interview he gave two weeks ago, his response to our questions this week was unequivocal.
Any suggestion he has thought of quitting is met with a grumpy: "I'm just getting on with the job."
Grim-faced, he blasts: "It is because of my purpose in politics that I'm determined to lead Labour to the next general election. We must and will win."
It is the first time Mr Brown has said he will stay on - and he denies it's because he likes being in power.
"It has never been the trappings of power I care about," he explains, "but what we can do in power to help hard-pressed families."
Just two weeks ago Mr Brown was fighting for his political life after a controversial Cabinet shake-up. But now he insists he has a united team.
He claims: "I think people want to work for a common purpose and I think it's really important that, when things are difficult, we show that we can come through."
Two weeks ago Mr Brown promised he'd listen to his party's complaints and address his weaknesses. But now his tune has changed.
"In every political party there are different opinions and moods and attitudes," he says. "I don't think much about that at all. I get on with the job."
Getting on with it means trying to close a 14 per cent gap on the Tories. Mr Brown admits the heavy poll defeats in the European and local elections were a "referendum". But he views it as a response to the MPs' expenses scandal and the economic crisis, not to his leadership.
Gordon Brown with Ian Kirby
Stubbornly, he insists that Labour are the only political party that will NOT cut public services.
"I think it's incredibly important for people to recognise that we're not just a party - we're a cause," he explains.
"We are a cause for justice; we are a cause for fairness. We are the cause that is on the side of hardworking families in this country.
"People are worried about housing and we have got to do more - I know that, and we are going to do more. People are worried about jobs, and it's important they see that what we're doing is going to make a difference."
On the wave of redundancies sweeping the country, Mr Brown says: "People will look back on this downturn and say that probably 500,000 more jobs would have gone if we hadn't taken the action we've taken.
"We know that where unemployment hits it's a personal tragedy, and I want to do everything I can to avoid it.
"Where redundancies actually happen, it's our job to help people get back to work as quickly as possible."
Any Labour MPs looking forward to swanning off on holiday are in for a shock. Mr Brown expects them to spend their 13-week break at work rebuilding voters' trust which was lost in the expenses uproar.
"When people talk about the summer I think MPs will be wanting to be in their constituencies for a lot of time, talking to people," he says.
But he admits he will only be able to restore public faith in his Labour government if he "moves quickly" and "by doing the right thing."
"I think policy will, in the end, decide," he says. "I think people will see us as the party of the many and not the wealthy few."
It is a mantra that makes the dour PM increasingly determined to stay on and do his duty.
But it's hard to avoid the impression that the man who had to wait more than a decade for the top job is silently furious that fate has turned his glittering prize into a poison chalice.
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This article has 23 comments
So Murdoch is now backing Brown? (with touched-up photo). What's going on? And why are all the respondents so illiterate? Enough said about educational standards under Nu-Lab.
By Markworthy.. Posted June 22 2009 at 9:04 AM.
this labour goverment are a complete shower,useless policies a useless leader,i know of no one who once voted labour that is going to vote labour again,he wont call an election because he knows he is on his way out and is just praying there is a turn around in the economy and he gets voted in again,and god help us if the british public get fooled into voting them in again.....
By DARREN.. Posted June 21 2009 at 10:43 PM.
Heaven help Britain if he does win the next election. Things could only get worse.
By Cleethorpes Pier.. Posted June 21 2009 at 7:27 PM.
"What he can do to help hard-pressed families..." What a joke. He has pile tax on tax, increased unemployment, presided over a corrupt and immoral parliament and sold the UK down the river.
Why are all these politicians singing from the same hymn sheet and supporting each other and the system? Has no-one conviction or integrity?
By Ian.. Posted June 21 2009 at 5:27 PM.
at the normandy 65th ceremony,how about the battle at OBAMA BEACH,instead of OMAHA BEACH, what a gaffe, what a man? what a leader.
By alanackroyd.. Posted June 21 2009 at 5:08 PM.
at the normandy 65th ceremony,how about the battle at OBAMA BEACH,instead of OMAHA BEACH, what a gaffe, what a man? what a leader.
By alanackroyd.. Posted June 21 2009 at 5:06 PM.
at the normandy 65th ceremony,how about the battle at OBAMA BEACH,instead of OMAHA BEACH, what a gaffe, what a man? what a leader.
By alanackroyd.. Posted June 21 2009 at 5:05 PM.
Gordon Browns clearly deluded and completely out of touch with the nation, if he really thinks that labours got a snowballs chance in hell of winning the next election, with or without him at the helm.
By Anon2.. Posted June 21 2009 at 4:56 PM.
After 12 years you think that presiding over the geratest recession, largest tax, lowest pension and largest debt ever seen is good for the working families. Show some leadership, stop dithering and GO.
By Simon Sewing.. Posted June 21 2009 at 4:39 PM.
Mr Brown, you and Tony Blair have done enough damage to theis country. Call a general election before you do more damage.
By Jonathan.. Posted June 21 2009 at 1:48 PM.
the only place browns going to lead the labour party is into third place it will be the only decent thing he has done for this country
By dave.. Posted June 21 2009 at 11:07 AM.
If he is so confident that he will lead Liebour to victory in the next election why doesn't he call it now? I cannot believe that there is nothing that the general public can do to force this unelected (even by his own party) incompetent to dissolve his Government.
We appear to be governed just like Zimbabwe and Iran and any other third world country.
Furthermore, he has so many unelected members of his own cabinet (including Lord PM) because even his own MP's didn't want to serve him.
What a loser.
By Ray Steele.. Posted June 21 2009 at 10:53 AM.
just how many times does this creepy power mad lying sleazebag wants to be told WE DONT WANT YOU - and by the way what has buying a dishwasher, washing machine a 9000 kitchen solar panels sky subscription etc etc got to do wit doing your job
By cathy.. Posted June 21 2009 at 8:19 AM.
Brown can start by cutting hiscabinet,his ego and his micro management of every aspect of Labour terms in office including underminning Blair all fall on the Brown's doorstep and having full control of the treasury
Brown blindly led this country into recession because he thought he knew better than real economists. Brown is the man who sold 395 tons of gold at 276 dollars an ounce, price now 925 dollars an ounce, so the amount that the country has lost through this decision so far is 9.187 BILLION dollars. This loss is one and a half times greater than the loss on Black Wednesday & he ignored treasury advice!
Brown's is Mr "no boom or bust" was flawed. Britain’s growth of the 1997-2007 boom years was built not entirely on genuine economic advances but on a self-feeding bubble of rising debt and house price.
Brown as Chancellor chose to ignore the mushrooming growth of the balance sheets of UK-authorised banks. In 1997, the banks were moderately sized, on the scale of the wider economy, whose taxpayers ultimately underwrote them. 10 years later, they dwarfed the economy. No other major country has had such disproportionately big banks.
By Steve Tea.. Posted June 21 2009 at 8:25 AM.
What more can I say, never, ever, ever vote Labour this is not the first or second time they have ruined the economy since 1945. Any idiot can take over a surplus of £750million pound and create debt today which at the end of December 2008, general government debt was £750.3 Billion.
This is what Gordon Brown has done to you and your family and you children when they start to pay taxes saddled them all with debt for short term gain and to save his political neck!
By steve tea.. Posted June 21 2009 at 8:26 AM.
Brown as head of the Treasury, in charge of City regulation, he fostered the light regime that made London the centre for the creation and distribution of many of the toxic products now congealing in the financial system. Second only to Wall Street, the City’s role in the crunch has left Britain more exposed than other countries.
Brown chose to ignore the housing bubble. He actually called it a “bubble” as early as 2005, but still did nothing to stop it inflating for another two years. That ensured the bursting phase is now all the more extreme. Lending curbs would have been hard, but not impossible.
Brown in spite of roaring tax revenues he left the public finances in poor shape for when the crunch hit. If Britain in 2007 had been in strong surplus, it would have been much easier to turn the public spending tap on now without alarming foreign investors.
Brown pushed up salaries in the public sector with little thought for the additional unfunded pension liabilities created, now approaching £1,000 billion.
Brown made hiring people less attractive. National insurance contributions, a tax on jobs, were raised again and again. Red tape worsened. And using employers as unpaid tax collectors added to the burden. Even those employers capable of hiring are in no mood to do so. Not a happy state of affairs when 5000 people are being sacked each day.
By steve tea.. Posted June 21 2009 at 8:26 AM.
GORD YOU MIGTH LEAD LABOUR INTO THE NEXT ELECTION. BUT YOU WILL NOT WIN THE PUBLIC ARE SICK OF YOU. ALL YOU DO IS TAX'TAX AND TAX AGAIN. I SEE BLOODY DARLING WANTS TO PUT UP TAX AGAIN.
By GRAHAM.. Posted June 21 2009 at 8:36 AM.
I read with interest Gordon Brown will be on Songs of Praise revealing his favourite Hymns. His cabinet must be very familiar with the scriptures, remember The Lord Help Those Who Help Themselves!!!!!!
By Jerbear.. Posted June 21 2009 at 8:35 AM.
Watching Brown's performance in the Commons and reading his recent interviews compounds the impression he no longer lives in the world of reality.
By Simon Marshland.. Posted June 21 2009 at 8:38 AM.
Unfortunately, we have not had a genuine debate on policies that will meet the challenges that lay ahead. David Cameron is hoping that Labour are so unpopular that he can walk into Downing Street, without being grilled too much on his parties plans. Brown, Cameron and Clegg are all guilty of playing daft games, trying to out maneuver each over. We all know there will tax increases and spending cuts. Please just get on with it and tell the truth, if you can stomach doing that. The British public are not as stupid as politicians seem to think.
By R Huckle.. Posted June 21 2009 at 8:40 AM.
"We must and will win."
So the Good Ship Gordon (or is it the Lying Hound?) sails bravely on, holed admidships, all cannons disabled, rudder wrecked, mast blasted, with the blood-drenched decks piled high with the mangled bodies of his dead and dying sailors - and the Cap'n squints fiercely through his one good eye at the evil Tory fleet massing about him, spitting deadly fire, and he cries exultantly: "This is it! My glorious Trafalgar! This is where I - die?....Oh, dear....BUT WAIT - YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND - THIS WAS A GLOBAL CRISIS THAT STARTED IN AMERICA!"
By Marc Oliver.. Posted June 21 2009 at 7:55 AM.
Good. I want to see his face as his party is wiped out at the next election. Mind you he cannot tell the truth fot love nor money, so he will probably resign before the election.
By Dave.. Posted June 21 2009 at 12:57 AM.
No public spending cuts, what a big fat lie Gordo.
Gordon Brittas run his lesure centre 1000% better then you could, did you need committie to advise you to do this interview or not.
Pay back those expences Gordo, most of them are not necessory for your job.
By John.. Posted June 20 2009 at 11:00 PM.