Gordon Brown: Prime Minister

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Tom Bower. Gordon Brown: Prime Minister

DEDICATION

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ONE Ghosts and Dreams

TWO Metamorphosis

THREE Turbulence

FOUR Retreat

FIVE Seduction

SIX ‘Do You Want Me to Write aThank-You Letter?’

SEVEN Fevered Honeymoon

EIGHT Demons and Grudges

NINE Enjoying Antagonism

TEN Turmoil and Tragedy

ELEVEN Revolt

TWELVE Aftermath

THIRTEEN Bloodshed

FOURTEEN Coup

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SOURCE NOTES

PRAISE

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

COPYRIGHT

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

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TOM BOWER

GORDON BROWN

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Labour’s overall majority in the new parliament was three seats. Recognising that the government, with the Liberals’ help, could survive for some years, Brown reconciled himself to establishing his own life while he waited for the next opportunity. For the first months he suffered a personal crisis. He entered hospital for an operation on his right eye, uncertain whether he would emerge completely blind. Other than Margarita, few were aware of his true feelings. Some of those sharing his house say that he emerged from hospital crying, and unexpectedly began smoking twenty cigarettes a day. Some suspected that his hectic schedule of teaching at the WEA, researching his PhD, writing a book on James Maxton based on the politician’s private papers, and his Labour Party activities placed him under unusual pressure. Others accepted his explanation that his tears were for the Labour Party.

The party’s internal affairs had become ugly. North Sea oil had increased the demand for Scotland’s independence, and in the October election the Scottish Nationalists had won seven seats, campaigning on the slogan ‘It’s Scotland’s oil’. The shock of the SNP’s success, and the crisis in Scotland’s shipyards, coalmines and manufacturing industries, posed a threat in Labour’s heartlands. Labour’s Scottish leaders decided to end their dialogue with the Nationalists. In that battle, there would be no help from Harold Wilson and the party’s headquarters in London. Brown joined the campaign, attempting to discredit the Nationalists’ call for independence by compiling an account of socialist policies to rebuild Scotland.

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