Brown Succeeds Blair As Labour Head

[brooklynite]

Source: AP

MANCHESTER, England -- Treasury chief Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair as leader of the governing Labour Party on Sunday, days before he takes over as British prime minister after a decade in waiting.

Brown will give his "best in the service of the country," Blair told party members. "I know his best is as good as it gets."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/24/AR2007062400426.html?hpid%3Dmoreheadlines&sub=AR

[soothsayer]

1. During Mercury retrograde? Gonna' be a shorter term than Blair's.

[UrbScotty]

7. Hard not to be. Blair is the second-longest-serving PM, IIRC

Behind Thatcher.

[Liberty Belle]

2. Wow, Brown pledges apologies for Iraq War and domestic reforms to tackle poverty and healthcare.

This sounds promising...kicking and recommending!


BROWN SUCCEEDS BLAIR AS LABOUR CHIEF
Associated Press (6/25/07) -- MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- Treasury chief Gordon Brown, replacing Tony Blair as leader of Britain's Labour Party, vowed Sunday that the country's foreign policy will recognize that defeating terrorism "involves more than military force."
Brown, who will succeed Blair as prime minister on Wednesday, also pledged sweeping domestic reforms to tackle poverty and improve health care. The woman elected Sunday as his deputy, Harriet Harman, has called for the government to apologize for mistakes over the Iraq war.
"Our foreign policy in the years ahead will reflect the truth that to isolate and defeat terrorist extremism now involves more than military force," Brown told a conference of party members in Manchester, northern England. "It is also a struggle of ideas and ideals."
Brown said key to that work would "be what becomes daily more urgent - a Middle East settlement upholding a two state solution" for Israel and the Palestinians.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRITAIN_BROWN?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-24-10-35-05

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. No, Brown does NOT "pledge apologies for Iraq War "

What you have done is taken a general call for "the government to apologize for mistakes over the Iraq war" made by Harriet Harman (my emphasis - but that's important - here's what she said in her acceptance speech: "You want us to acknowledge the anger and division caused by Iraq and we do. But we must give our total support to our armed forces as they support Iraq's fragile democracy"), and then you've said that's Brown saying he'll apologize for the whole war. He won't. From your article:

Brown has dismissed claims he would seek to loosen ties with President Bush to appease rank-and-file party members angered over the Iraq war, saying it is in Britain's national interest to have a strong relationship with the U.S. president.

Harman's personal position on Iraq during the deputy leader election:

Harriet Harman: Regrets voting for war. Says she would not have done so had she known there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Admitting war was a mistake the only way to restore public trust.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6700015.stm

Brown was in the cabinet all through the build-up and invasion, and never spoke up. He's noy about to apologize for it.

[quiet.american]

4. True, in a BBC clip, Brown touts the "we regret faulty intelligence, but Saddam was a bad man" line.

Absolutely no different from Blair. More of the same.

[Alexander]

5. That was his job, to parrot Blair...

As it was, Blair already tried to dump Brown. If Brown had spoken up and criticized the government, Blair probably would've been successful.

I'll wait and see what Brown actually does before I go passing judgment.

[quiet.american]

6. And a fine job he did. God, I miss Robin Cook. n/t