From The Independent - 10th April 2008
Brown's Olympic error offends everyone
By Simon Carr
It�s a re-run of the election-that-never-was. Brown keeps his options open. He waits for the right moment to go public. And uses careful distinctions of language to keep his meaning from the public. And looks like an ass.
At his Downing St press conference last week he was asked whether he would follow Sarkozy�s lead and stay away from the opening ceremony. In his answer he said: "I think President Sarkozy said himself he expected Britain, because we are going to host the next Olympics, to be present at the Olympic ceremonies and I will certainly be there." The missing words at the end being �. . . at one of them.�
He just couldn�t bring himself to say, �representing Britain at the opening ceremony in front of a global audience of three billion viewers will be . . . Tessa Jowell.� It doesn�t sound quite right, does it? And was it for this that Gordon took such trouble to become prime minister? To give Tessa a global profile?
Brown�s explanation, by the way, manages to offend everyone. It would be �a waste of public money� for the PM to attend. So it�s not the moral compass. It�s not really prudence, either, considering the stakes involved.
But the lack of principle will lose him the support of the Human Rights lobby.
And the Chinese will be furious, won�t they, that Gordon thinks they aren�t worth the plane fare to attend the greatest Chinese event in a generation.
Luckily for Brown, the Chinese government is not known for a sense of mischief. But they could offer to pay for the trip. Or part-pay, perhaps, and come back with a slightly higher offer if they were turned down the first time. But I fear they take these things more seriously than that.