Brown: I’m the right man for a crisis
Sep 24 2008 by Jon Tunney, The Journal
GORDON Brown yesterday declared he was the “rock of stability” the North East can depend on through tough times after reasserting his Labour leadership.
North East Labour MPs hailed the Prime Minister after he set out why he was the man of the moment and warned it was “no time for a novice” in an enthusiastically-received speech at Labour’s conference in Manchester.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband hailed the speech as “excellent”, adding: “I think Gordon found his true voice.”
Proposed massive investment in renewable energy and clean coal were welcomed in the region as Mr Brown predicted a million new “green” jobs – with the North East well placed to take many of the opportunities
Delegates cheered Mr Brown’s pledges to scrap prescription charges for cancer sufferers and ease the burden of social care bills on the elderly, many of who currently risk losing their homes, and his support for Northern Rock.
An appeal to Labour’s sense of “fairness” and fighting talk over the Tories secured more support for the Prime Minister, who had to make the speech of his life to fend off a leadership challenge after a spate of resignations.
The positive reaction has dampened speculation over an immediate leadership challenge, But Mr Brown still faces the Glenrothes by-election expected in November where a defeat by the Scottish National Party could fatally undermine his premiership.
But Mr Brown warned against internal feuding, saying: “The British people would not forgive us if at this time we looked inwards to the affairs of just our party when our duty is to the interests of our country. The people of Britain would never forget if we failed to put them first. And friends, they would be right.”
The response from union leaders, ministers and MPs in the hall suggested Mr Brown succeeded.
While Tories would offer no protection from the unbridled market forces, the Labour Government would be “the rock of stability and fairness upon which people stand” during times of economic turmoil, he said.
Mr Brown unveiled plans to abolish the £7.10 prescription charge for all drugs for cancer sufferers in England over the next year at a cost of £20m with the aim to extend the exemption over time to all patients with long-term conditions – with the £300m annual bill paid for from savings in the NHS drug budget.
The move takes around 250,000 people out of prescription charges, rising to five million in the longer term.
He pledged to write into law Labour’s promise to end child poverty by 2020 and to bring forward targets to reduce climate change-causing carbon emissions by 80%.
“No-one should live in fear of their old age because they worry their social care will impose heavy financial burdens or threaten the family home,” said Mr Brown. “The generation that rebuilt Britain from the ashes of the war deserves better.”
Sections of the audience rose to their feet to applaud during the address, which ended with a four-minute standing ovation as Sarah Brown joined her husband on stage.
And afterwards, reactions in the hall were warm.
North East Labour MPs said Mr Brown had made “the best conference speech ever”.
Blaydon MP Dave Anderson said: “We can put the whole leadership thing behind us. It was only ever a handful, if that. The rest of the party is united and we have to move on from the self-indulgence among just a very few members which was distracting from our serious efforts to set the economy right.
He added extension of social care for the elderly would bring huge improvements and praised Mr Brown’s pledges on energy, saying the region could benefit with a lot of new green jobs.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said yesterday : “This was the same old Brown. No apology for the mess he’s got the country into, no new ideas that show us how he’s going to get out of it, no idea how anything will be paid for.”
“Gordon Brown is retreating to the left to save his job. A divided Government and a weak Prime Minister cannot lead the country out of a crisis.”
