It’s all yours, Gordon
Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite, writing in The Sunday Telegraph, provide further speculation on Gordon Brown’s attitude to the ID Card scheme:
Mr Brown, however, will not enjoy the luxury of a period of reflection over his party’s losses. This week Tony Blair will finally spell out the timetable for his eventual departure from 10 Downing Street, expected to be at the very end of next month.
Within days Mr Brown, who now looks certain to be the only mainstream candidate to succeed him, will publish his “personal agenda” for becoming prime minister.
He and his advisers know he will be immediately thrown into a round of media interviews in which he will face relentless questioning about how he will be different from Mr Blair – in particular over Iraq. What kind of relationship will he pursue with the United States? How will he address NHS cutbacks?
What is his stance on tightening security against the terror threat? Will he scrap university tuition fees or his predecessor’s plans for compulsory identity cards? And what about reforms to the education system?
The Chancellor, according to those closest to him, is determined to avoid falling into what he has termed a “Tory trap” with the Opposition daring him to spell out precise policy positions before he has even entered Number 10.
Mr Brown’s camp claims he will use the seven week “phoney war” of the leadership campaign to drop hints of policies and outline broad themes rather than make detailed announcements.
