I watched the transfer of power in the company of a few friends. It was quite clear that the journalists had little to say, and were trying to play up what was in the event quite a down-beat occasion. One BBC commentator, tasked with providing commentary as the car transporting Brown from the Palace to Downing Street took a journey that even on roads that had not been closed would have been uninteresting, resorted to saying ‘Mr Brown now turns his formidable intellect to the daunting task of running the country’ or words of similar banality. Whether or not they were impartial I leave the reader to judge.
As it turned out the formidable intellect had produced no great speech, though I did hope, as Brown said that there were some words that had always moved him, that he was about to use the words of Francis of Assisi. It wouldn’t have been original, but it would have been so witty it would have had the press chortling with him for days. As it turned out, he instead quoted his old school motto and promised to try his utmost. Personally, I’m more interested in results and achievement when it comes to my politicians. I’d much rather have a Bill that was a doddle for them to work out but that does its job well than one they sat up all night to work on and still couldn’t get right.
Still, he left the journalists at rather a loss. Nick Robinson, not usually one to write copy when he has nothing to say but feeling the pressure on this of all days to say something, resorted to writing absolute nonsense:
He delivered his words with confidence, but his nervousness was very, very evident.
According to the BBC, then, Brown was both confident and nervous. Well that, at least, is balanced reporting writing. Perhaps it is a quantum universe after all.