Brown press conference As-It-Happened
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This event is now over, but you can see how it happened below.
09:32 – The press are gathered in the room for Gordon Brown’s monthly press conference. Expect everything to centre around the question of tax cuts, which the PM has been hinted at like there’s no tomorrow. Prime ministers tend not to hint about anything that much unless they’re certain they’re going to do it. Or at least, that’s what we thought until the general election that never was.
09:36 – Mr Brown comes out dressed in a dark suit, presumably for the remembrance service later today. He says he has spoken to president-elect Obama and his running mate Joe Biden about the economy, and outlines a list of aims he has for his meeting in Washington this week. The IMF needs to safeguard against contagion. World trade needs to be boosted and protectionism avoided (hint hint USA). He announces a new code of banking principles around lending. Very interesting indeed. There will be greater transparency in the mortgage market and new protections against repossession.
09:38 – Why, according to the IMF, is Britain so vulnerable to recession, the prime minister is asked. He frankly denies the question, pointing to the countries that fell into recession first. And suddenly we’re back to the Brown Lists – how many more are employed than when the Tories were in power, that sort of thing.
09:41 – Cameron says only Pakistan and Hungary match the UK’s debt, someone points out. Mr Brown doesn’t quite address that. The Tories proposed tax cuts are not funded, “the money is not there. They change their policy everyday.” It’s rare for a PM to launch so blatantly into party-political fighting at the monthly press conference. It’s not good form. “We need serious proposals for serious times,” he says, rather depressingly. That phrase is starting to grate, but I have a very low tolerance for political soundbites.
09:42 – Will Brown need to stand up to Obama’s protectionist tendencies? Mr Brown says there’s a need to avoid protectionism, and “I believe” Mr Obama will understand that. Brown wants progress on a trade deal at Doha.
09:43 – Will Brown tell the British public taxes have to go up in a recession? “I’m always honest with the British public,” Mr Brown says. That’s not quite funny, but it’s similar to things that are funny. Another list, this time of fiscal stimuli across the world. I’ve never said fiscal stimuli before. Brown effortlessly manages to avoid the question, although he does seem to admit the cuts will be unfunded.
09:45 – Will Mr Brown admit he didn’t see the recession coming, and that if he had he would have reduced debt? Actually debt is lower than Italy, Japan etc, Mr Brown says. “We start from a low base in public debt,” he adds. “Let’s get this public debate onto a realistic level.”
09:47 – The most important thing Mr Brown is saying today, according to him, is that our fiscal stimulus will be far less effective if it’s not followed across the world. We’ve given the banking system liquidity and recapitalisation. Now, can the international financial system be rebuilt? That’s his pitch.
09:50 – No-one has been more supportive of international reform that Obama, the PM says. Apparently, Biden is the same. Given there’s no opposition from across the pond, the Washington talks will the see the first step of Bretton Woods Two.
09:51 – How will Brown make sure Britons spend their tax cut rather than hoard it? Some clues on how the cuts will come: Brown talks about how he’s raised the winter fuel alliance. Reading between the lines, that means we’re probably looking at something along the lines of tax credits, Brown’s favourite means of redistribution. That also means mean testing, complications and a lorry-load of them going unclaimed. He doesn’t mention it, but this could be twinned with a cut in VAT. He almost certainly won’t go near any Tory proposal for scrapping National Insurance payments for new workers or a six month break for corporation tax.
<09:56 – Someone from Icelandic radio asks Brown why he previously referred to the “illegal action” of the Icelandic government, and why did he feel the urge to use terrorist legislation? Is the UK government trying to boycott the IMF loan to Iceland? “The answer to the last question is no,” Brown says. He says the UK government acted properly in the Iceland situation. “We did everything by the book and by the law of our country.” He doesn’t address the questioner’s point though – which is that British action was morally inconsistent and that using the terror laws actually hurt the bank in question, hitting British interests.
10:00 – Brown isn’t spectacular, but he acts as he has been over the last couple of months – confident, comfortable, slightly lethargic. He’s asked on the Heathrow expansion. “I think you’ve got to recognise, whichever way you look at this debate, people expect the number of people using airports will double,” he answers. It doesn’t sound like Heathrow will be kicked into the long grass, as many environmentalists and potentially rebellious MPs had hoped. He promises, of course, to look at the environmental impact. That last part is vaguely laughable.
10:03 – Despite all the new confidence and everything, Mr Brown still appears kind of short behind his lectern. Tony Blair used to dominate these things with intuitive body language, a smatter of jokes, and a torrent of self-belief. Is he taller than Brown? I have no idea. Perhaps it’s a question of posture. Someone says “as a Scot” to Brown in the course of a question. You can almost see him wince.
10:06 – An Aussie asks a questions. Mr Brown wants a super-regulator in the world. What guise would it operate in? “We’re proposing colleges of supervisors” across national borders, apparently. International financial institutions like the World Bank would operate as early warning systems.
10:08 – Action on credit cards. Mr Brown wants to bring the “credit card industry in” to convince them to “behave better”. That would be an interesting meeting to sit in on, like trying to convince a serial killer to help old women across the road.
10:10 – Even during the good days, like today, Mr Brown acts towards incoming questions like he’s playing catch with a handful of scalpels. His eyes twitch and he leans back in a defensive position. He endlessly reiterates the global action required to find a solution to “this global problem”. He always approaches these press conferences like this – he has one message he wants to get across, sometime he even admits to it, and he just hammers it home. It’s what all politicians do, although it always seems more obvious with Brown.
10:15 – Would Brown support a ban on happy hours, as MPs did yesterday? He’ll look at the idea, he says.
10:16 – Will other EU countries byetalking with one voice on Brown’s plans, an LA Times journalist asks. Yes, Mr Brown answers, although he takes somewhat longer to say it.
10:17 – What does Brown expect from developing countries like China and India at the Washington summit? China recognises the need for world action, the PM replies. China has announced a $500 billion stimulus. “Countries around the world are taking the actions we think are necessary,” he says. The G8 is too small to deal with issues of economic future. “It’s got to be more than G8, more than G14 at this meeting, and that’s why it’s G20,” he says.
10:20 – A foreign journalist says Brown earned world-wide praise for saving the banks so quickly. But they don’t appear to be so quick to halt the taxpayer who bailed them out, she notes. Mr Brown reels off a list of actions, which is what you want in this sort of thing, but nothing that can really affect them if they don’t want to be affected. There’s a meeting this afternoon to try to get them to resume lending.
10:21 – An Israeli journalist pops up. Predictable questions on Syria and Hamas. And another on the rise of the far-right in Europe and pan-European action against it. Mr Brown gives the standard answer of working with other countries to defeat the far-right. Brown says he’s confident Syria will play a more positive role in the Middle East. Another questioner says the high court is allowing house repossession without a court order. Is Brown happy with that? “This is not an acceptable situation,” Brown replies. He wants extensions on time periods etc before a repossession is even contemplated. He’s taking a refreshingly tough line on this – a similar emotional tone to the one Nick Clegg was urging a couple of months ago.
10:25 – An American journalist says the British have left the door open to more troops in Afghanistan. Has he discussed it with Obama? “Burden sharing means other countries need to play their part.” There are 41 other countries in the coalition, Britain gives the second largest number of troops. Maybe others should be contributing, he says.
10:26 – A ferocious question about Keith Vaz’s investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner is met with a blank refusal by the PM to get dragged into it. And with that the press conference breaks up. Mr Brown continues in his global pilgrimage to financial stability.
