Does Gordon Brown lack courage?

[Gromit]

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "Some people say Gordon Brown's problems are that he isn't decisive and lacks political courage.

"He couldn't have done more to confirm that."

This week, Brown boycotted the EU/Africa summit and so avoided a meeting with Robert Mugabe. The German Chancellor was able to take the credit for rebuking Mugabe.

Today, after first saying he couldn't go the EU signing ceremony himself because he had a minor meeting in the morning, he has bowed to pressure, and will sign himself today, but he will not have his photo taken.

So much for Britain taking the lead, when Brown is too frightened about what the Sun might write about him, to attend anything.

[4GS]

Did Bliar really mean Brown when he refered to "the big clunking fist"?


I think not!!

[jno]

hwn everything you do turns out wrong, you're naturally hesitant to make decisions. But this is not a good trait in a prime minister. It's odd, because he's always been one to think things through carefully and then decide; but I think he's losing faith in his own judgment. The one thing in his favour is still that he's not Cameron, who arouses suspicions because he's too Blair-lite. But people are getting to the point where they may not care.

[jno]

... I think that first word was meant to be 'when' but it had a mutated strain of DNA...

[Rollo]

Scottish he is.

Braveheart he isn't.

[ludwig]

Brown's always had a bit of a reputation for being strangely absent during difficult situations or when the sh1t starts flying. He's going to find that harder to do now he's got the top job.

The reason I think he lacks political courage is because he spent all those years sullenly hating Blair but never actually having the guts to openly oppose him because he didn't want to do anything that would affect his own ambitions of becoming PM.

[MrsT]

Well he certainly does seem a bit of a bottler, I mean have you seen him on PMQ's? The slightest pressure and he's having a major stutter! Don't blame him for not wanting to sign our final surrender to the EU though!

[Gromit]

Why not MrsT, wasn't it you who started the whole thing off when you signed the Single European Act in 1986 which made the Eurozone a single market?

[MrsT]

Yes but I now realise the error of my ways. What has occurred was not what I had in mind!

[naomi24]

Yes, he does lack courage, and Mrs T is right (who'd dare argue with her!) - he does appear to buckle under the slightest pressure. In my opinion, quite simply, he commands no authority, he commands no respect, and he is not up to the job - and never was. An international statesman he is not. In fact, I think he's a dishonest man, and a complete embarrassment.

[ludwig]

Further to my earlier point, I note that he managed to avoid attending the signing of the controversial EU treaty.
What a t055er.