UK PM says he needs work on presentation
Source: Agencies |
November 4, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown, often portrayed as a dour figure, has told a men's magazine that he needs to improve his presentational skills to get his message across to voters.
Brown, whose Labour Party is trailing in opinion polls ahead of an election due by next June, opened up to GQ magazine in an interview ranging from bank bonuses to his favorite Saturday night television viewing.
Interviewed by former British tabloid newspaper editor Piers Morgan, Brown, 58, was pressed to acknowledge his weaknesses.
"Well, I could present our message a lot better, I'm actually shy by nature rather than extrovert, someone who feels that your actions should speak for themselves, but that's not the way politics works these days," Brown said in excerpts of the interview released by GQ.
"However, the opposition have tried to turn my strengths into weaknesses, making out that I'm indecisive when in fact I've been consistently decisive," he said.
Asked about what he would do after his political career was over, Brown said: "When I leave office I want to be involved in charitable work."
The opposition Conservatives are poised to win the next election, ending Labour's grip on power that began in 1997 when Tony Blair swept into office with Brown as his finance minister.
Brown, who replaced Blair as prime minister mid-term in 2007, said opposition leader David Cameron was "a very good politician" but said that he did not socialize with him. "I have my own friends," Brown said.
Senior politicians have opened up to the magazine before. Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrat party, said in a GQ interview last year that he had slept with as many as 30 women in his younger days.
Brown did not announce any youthful indiscretions in his interview, setting out his opposition to illegal drugs. "I don't take illegal drugs, never have, never will," he said.
Asked about the big issue of what he watches on Saturday night, Brown said he was a fan of talent show the X Factor rather than celebrity dance show Strictly Come Dancing.
Brown, whose Labour Party is trailing in opinion polls ahead of an election due by next June, opened up to GQ magazine in an interview ranging from bank bonuses to his favorite Saturday night television viewing.
Interviewed by former British tabloid newspaper editor Piers Morgan, Brown, 58, was pressed to acknowledge his weaknesses.
"Well, I could present our message a lot better, I'm actually shy by nature rather than extrovert, someone who feels that your actions should speak for themselves, but that's not the way politics works these days," Brown said in excerpts of the interview released by GQ.
"However, the opposition have tried to turn my strengths into weaknesses, making out that I'm indecisive when in fact I've been consistently decisive," he said.
Asked about what he would do after his political career was over, Brown said: "When I leave office I want to be involved in charitable work."
The opposition Conservatives are poised to win the next election, ending Labour's grip on power that began in 1997 when Tony Blair swept into office with Brown as his finance minister.
Brown, who replaced Blair as prime minister mid-term in 2007, said opposition leader David Cameron was "a very good politician" but said that he did not socialize with him. "I have my own friends," Brown said.
Senior politicians have opened up to the magazine before. Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrat party, said in a GQ interview last year that he had slept with as many as 30 women in his younger days.
Brown did not announce any youthful indiscretions in his interview, setting out his opposition to illegal drugs. "I don't take illegal drugs, never have, never will," he said.
Asked about the big issue of what he watches on Saturday night, Brown said he was a fan of talent show the X Factor rather than celebrity dance show Strictly Come Dancing.
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