If he doesn’t know already, Gordon Brown will know it now. A PM in political trouble at home is a PM under attack everywhere. Like John Major and Back to Basics, nemesis has caught up with him in the shape of the hacks on his plane to the G8 in Japan. 
As we know, Brown is a Press-button B Scrooge. He reminds me of that old rogue in “Kidnapped” who fed his ravenous nephew Davy Balfour on “Purrige and small beer.” One of his first acts as Chancellor was to refuse to replace or refit the royal yacht Britannia. I’ll never forget the look on the Queen’s face as she said goodbye to her floating palace.
Now on his way to the G8 in Japan, he’s been urging us to eat up our leftovers to cut down our rising food bills.
But just as he was lecturing us on frugality, correspondents broke the news that he was sitting down to 19 courses prepared by 25 chefs in Hokkaido
No doubt Gordon thought he was one up on Tony Blair for his budget charter plane for Tokyo – much cheaper than BA (anybody’s cheaper than BA -ed).
No bad headlines on that one, then?
Sadly no. According to Sky News, eagerly picked up by a Mail blog, the owner of Brown’s plane used to run a chain of -shall we say?- adult restaurants. What a hoot!
Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London
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