Morale boost from America

It hasn’t been an easy past couple weeks for Gordon Brown. As the Prime Minister tries to reassure the population that the economic crisis in the UK is under control, he has also had to contend with growing internal criticism. Most noteworthy were the comments made by Labour peer Lord Desai, an economic professor, who accused Brown of looking "weak and indecisive" and suggested David Miliband would make a better leader. The abolition of the 10p tax rate has also created a lot of anger amongst Labour MPs, particularly with MP Angela Smith for Sheffield Hillsborough, who threatened to resign over the issue.

So with the Prime Minister’s leadership skills being called into question and with the May elections just around the corner, I suspect Gordon Brown’s three-day visit to the United States may have come with a big sigh of relief – a chance to escape national scrutiny. The Prime Minister’s second visit to the US included a stop off in New York to address the United Nations, a visit to Wall Street, and of course a visit to Washington to meet with President George Bush. Issues discussed between the two leaders included the global economic crisis, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change and calls to reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Although the media proclaim that Gordon Brown’s trip was overshadowed by Pope Benedict’s first visit to America, I think that this visit may have helped boost the Prime Minister’s morale. Mr. Bush called Gordon Brown a “good friend” and applauded the Prime Minister on his excellent handling of the terrorist attack in Glasgow and in fighting terrorism in general. The Prime Minister also had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the three presidential candidates, a unique chance to see how UK-US relations might evolve in the future, depending on the outcome of the race.

With Obama stating that "The Prime Minister has been a critically important partner for the United States” and expressing how much he was looking forward to working with Gordon Brown in the years ahead, I think the Prime Minister would have been happy to stay overseas even longer, knowing what awaits him at home.