Philip Webster, Political Editor
The Jesus and Mary Chain CD: Psychocandy at WHSmith today
Gordon Brown emerged from his toughest week in politics yesterday insisting time and again that he was the right person to guide Britain through the economic storms ahead.
The Prime Minister, after buying time with a mini-Budget to tackle the 10p tax-rate disaster and the publication of a heavy draft programme for next year, said that his ten years at the Treasury had prepared him for the difficult times lying in wait.
Mr Brown, forced to fight for his future as never before, bombarded the media at his monthly press conference with assertions that he would not be deflected by “innuendo and gossip” from taking the right long-term decisions.
He provoked surprise by admitting that there were others who could do his job, but swiftly added that he was the person to steer the country through difficult times. “I have done it before and I can do it again,” he said.
Mr Brown, managing smiles and laughs despite a torrid week, rejected the “defeatist” idea that there was little he could do to influence rising oil prices and world commodity trends. “I actually believe there is a great deal you can do. Good economic decisions can help people through difficult times,” he said.
Yet he insisted that the £2.7 billion package announced on Tuesday was not only to help those hit by the 10p rate abolition but was also in line with action taken by other countries, including the United States, to pump money into the economy to help to ward off the recession.
At the press conference he found himself — after less than a year in the job — answering the kind of questions about his suitability that used to be thrown at John Major in his darkest years.
He replied: “I’m getting on with the job. I’m getting on with the job of building for the long term and taking sometimes unpopular decisions which are necessary so we can show the country that we are preparing this country — which has a huge and magnificent future ahead of us if we take the right long-term decisions. I am determined not to be diverted from taking these long-term decisions.”
Mr Brown accepted that there were “many people” in his Cabinet capable of being prime minister. But he added: “Of course they are capable of doing the job, but I’m doing the job . . . I was elected unopposed and I think that people understand that we are getting on with the job and I am not going to be distracted by this gossip.”
Mr Brown said that Britain’s economic challenges stemmed in large part from the credit crunch resulting from events in America and from higher oil and food prices caused by higher demand from China and India.
Britain was better placed than most countries because of its record of low debt and low unemployment over the past decade, he said.
He said he believed that action on the international level to press the oil-producing countries of Opec to increase fuel supply and cut the price of oil could ease the burden on British consumers.
And shared-equity schemes to help first-time buyers would provide support for the troubled housing market.
Mr Brown said: “These are problems that are essentially generated by the credit crunch coming out of America and inflationary pressures coming out of the rest of the world.
“These are issues that all countries have to deal with. I think because of my experience I am in a good position to deal with these issues.”
He added: “If you talk to anybody in the country, their first concern is the cost of household goods — what is in their shopping basket, what they have to pay at the petrol station. We need a Government that is capable to deal with these problems, take them and address them.
“That’s precisely what I am doing.”
Mr Brown said that he would continue to take difficult decisions, such as supporting nuclear energy, requiring incapacity benefit claimants to undergo medical tests to see if they can work and building three million homes.
“I am going to continue with the preparations for the future of this country,” he told the press conference.
“This year we have made long-term decisions about nuclear energy, climate change, transport infrastructure, planning and housing, and in almost all these decisions we were opposed by the Conservatives and the Liberals.
“These are the long-term decisions. Now we are about to take further long-term decisions, not necessarily immediately popular, but the right long-term decisions for the country.”
Explore your passion for food with the delights of Thai, Indian & Chinese cooking
In our new series, Tony Hawks takes a dry, wry look at modern life - junk mail, interminable meetings and snooty sales assistants
Read the training tips and advice that helped our London Triathletes
Read our exclusive 100 Years of Fleming and Bond interactive timeline, packed with original Times articles and reviews
The latest travel news plus the best hotels and gadgets for business travellers
Shortcuts to help you find sections and articles
2007
£30,000
2006
£14,337
2008
£39,937
Great car insurance deals online
c.£75,000
GlosFirstmeansbusiness
Gloucestershire
Competitive package
Npower
Midlands
£
£32,795 - £41,545
Universitry of Southampton
Southampton
Competitive Package
Npower
West Midlands
1 & 2 Bed apartments
From £249,995
Great Investment, River Views
Great Dubai Investment Opportunities
from £89,950
low-cost ownership homes in London
Las Vegas SALE!
£POA
With Ramblers Worldwide Holidays!
£POA
List your property with two leading travel websites
£POA
Great travel insurance deals online
Contact our advertising team for advertising and sponsorship in Times Online, The Times and The Sunday Times. Globrix Property Search - find property for sale and rent in the UK. Milkround Job Search - for graduate careers in the UK. Visit our classified services and find jobs, used cars, property or holidays. Use our dating service, read our births, marriages and deaths announcements, or place your advertisement.
Copyright 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd.
This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard Terms and Conditions. Please read our Privacy Policy.To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from Times Online, The Times or The Sunday Times, click here.This website is published by a member of the News International Group. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY, is the holding company for the News International group and is registered in England No 81701. VAT number GB 243 8054 69.
He might be the best man for the job, we just haven't found the right job yet because its not Prime Minister!!!!
KEN SANTI, SEDGEFIELD, DURHAM
Self praise is no recommendation and thats his only claim to being the best man for a job that incidentally he stole from Blair and more importantly from a despairing, angry electorate.
If he has the guts to give us a vote on his opinion I suspect he would not even be in the top 1000 for p.m.
philip, Ipswich,
The man is a joke. Instead of taking more wonky 'difficult long-term decisions', will the PM take just one easy short-term one... and resign?
His long termism is merely code for do nothing and weather the storm. He's bankrupt of ideas and it will surely doom us all.
John Pickworth, Blackpool, UK
The man is deluded. He robs the poor to help the better off and then tries to pretend nobody is worse off. He then expects us to be grateful when he borrows money , to pay back the money he's previously taken away. He then forgets to help the poorest 1.1 million. Crewe voters please sort him out !!
Roger, swindon,
The electorate are the ones to express opinion on Brown's competence or incompetence; not his vain self. The chance can not come too soon. Just how pyschotic must a PM be to be removed from office, never mind the incompetence...?
Mac, Oban, Argyll
Just call an election and let the people deceide who is best for the job. certainly not Brown
Mike, cyprus,
Adolf Brown is probably the most delusioned and worst leader that i've seen in my nearly 60 years on this planet. when the person selling a leader is that person himself he has no qualities of leadership. my cats could do a better job!
Arthur, Brighton, ENGLAND
The people should decide who is the "Best man for the job". Any question of national leadership must be resolved by a national vote. Party voting is not democratic, only Bristish. Hate is an illness. A cure is needed to restore the nations health.
JIm Wills, Brisbane, Australia
Oh yes Gordon, you are the man for the job. You are the perfect reminder of why we should never ever contemplate having a Labour goverment again.
But instead of "getting on with the job", just please call a general election. We cannot afford you anymore...
S Q, Tonbridge, England
He isn't the best, hasn't been the best and will never be the best man for the job!!!!! He's on a one man mission to destroy the economy!!!
Ken S, SEDGEFIELD, DURHAM
On GB..
He said he was going to end boom and bust cycles -
He said he is the best man for the job -
He said he was elected unopposed (but not to run the country)
He said he was going to listen - has he?
Does this sound like someone in touch with reality ?
Guy Winter, London,
I'll give him until August. Surely Labour's yes men (and women) will see the writing on the wall and do the necessary deed. Eleven years as Chancellor, building up huge debts and now he's edging closer to the self destruct button as PM. Please call a general election now Mr Brown.
Paul, West Midlands,
ps - the minute recession hits, Brown shows his true worth, by panicking and demonstrating indecision - a true career polician for you - an expert in nothing except pinning the blame on others when it goes wrong. The trouble is, now he is PM, its very difficult to hide and play the schoolboy sneak.
Arthur, London,
I got the feeling the people who voted in the local elections were telling him that he was definitely NOT the best man for the job. It must now be up to the voters of Crewe to try to get the message through the rhinocerous hide.
Neil, Gloucestershire, England
I just can't stand watching him any more. He has a fixed scary smile like a kamikaze pilot out of control. As long as he is P.M. then this Country goes nowhere but downwards. Call an election for pities sake.
Roger, Surrey,
Most might recall this is the man who claimed he had ended boom and bust.
Simon Marshland, Bath, UK
The arrogance of the man is astonishing.
Paul, Singapore,
I think I am the best man for the job as well. Does that give me the right to it?
Elected unopposed? By whom? Certainly not the electorate. Even Mugabe held an election, however flawed it was.
Brown is incompetent, and arrogant. A very dangerous combination.
Duncan M, Tunbridge Wells,
The self-delusion continues.
Please Gordon, leave us alone; you've hurt us too much.
A.M. Williams, Stafford,
you must be joking man!!!!!!
please tell me you're just kidding !!!!
ebbi britt, valencia,
Instead of raising taxes he should get us out of "The I'm better off on benefits" culture we seem to have adopted!!!, reduce taxes and re-ignite industry, when did the country stop being proud and become lazy?
Ken S, SEDGEFIELD, DURHAM
He insisted the same thing when he was chancellor.
And now look at the state of personal finance, public finances, even the labour party finances.
Best chancellor for years?
Don't make me laugh!
rob, derby, uk
To GW of Crewe. Go for it; show them via the vote. I do hope there are a lot more like you.
signed: a socialist
Bob, Warrington, Cheshire
Calamity Brown is NOT the best man for the job. There must be intelligent adults out there that could do the job better, though finding them in the closed group called parliamentarians is likely to be impossible. A plague on all their houses
M. Cawdery, Portadown, Co. UK, EU.
Pompous, arrogant, indecisive, cowardly, irascible, over-ambitious and disloyal are words that spring to mind to describe Mr Brown. Competency is the description furthest from most peoples minds!
paul turfery, Cork, Ireland
To GW in Crewe - Go for it in the elections and wipe the smile off Browns face - hope the other voters can see through him!
Brown loves to spend our hard working taxes on his ideals -
£6.6 billion overseas aid
£5 billion to treat immigrants with HI
Billions on immigration and benefit.
Margaret, Bristol, UK
He is the best man for the bog
adam, aberdeen, uk
Surely if Brown had taken the correct long term decisions over the last 11 years we wouldn't be facing the uncertain future we are today. Taking from the "will work for a living" and giving to the "can't be bothered to work for a living" is hardly a good long term decision. Stop rewarding laziness.
Edward, London,
TB was delusional at the end of his premiership, now we see that GB is delusional at the start of his! He was NOT elected PM unopposed, he was elected Leader of he Labour Party and then foisted on the country. As for being the best man for the Job? Join Mugabe.
Bill, Suzhou, China
If he's the best man Labour can find for the job then God help the UK. Who said he had the right to select himself, and get the position unopposed. If he's as good as he thinks why doesn't he hold an election so we the voters can endorse his opinion of himself. Because we don't, and he'd lose.
Donna Walker, Effingham, England
He sold off UK gold cheap, destroyed our pensions, created an economy with one of the highest levels of personal debt, taxes us through the roof and blames everyone else. His CV makes him the best?
At least I get a vote in our by-election on 22 May.
GW, Crewe, UK
This week might have been his toughest so far, but every week between now and his eventual departure will be tougher than the one before.
thomas, London,
It's a pity then really that the problems the voters want Gordon to address are not in the long-term!
Paul, Cambridge, UK