Gordon the Adequate

by Graham Davies

It was certainly the most upbeat, energetic and engaging performance that I have ever seen from him. By his standards, it wasn't just a speech: it was a cabaret.

He told a couple of early gags rather well. He even smiled...something which he has traditionally found difficult and frightening. There was a real danger that he was actually enjoying himself up there.

But all the old tedious presentational trademarks were still there. He has only one pace: Attack, Attack, Attack. Every phrase was hammered out as if it were just as damned vital as every phrase before it.

Stangely, he spent 80% of his time with his body and head pointed well towards the left, with only the occasional glance to the right...perhaps as an unconscious metaphor of his entire political carreer.

This was as good as Brown is ever going to get in a set-piece speech. He is always going to be an artisan rather than an artiste.

And I suspect that, even as the obligatory standing ovation reached its peak, Gordon was thinking, "Maybe one day I will be as good as Peter Mandelson himself."