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Brown, not bitter...

Missed this - interesting interview with Gordon Brown in last Sunday's Washington Post. Some edited highlights:

Many in the Labor Party say Blair should announce a date to leave office. Your response?

We have just had very difficult elections. People want to look at how the Labor Party can best prepare for the future. Tony Blair has said he does not wish to stand at the next election and that he wants to organize a stable and orderly transition.

Are you satisfied with the way Blair is handling the transition?

You've got term limits in the U.S. We have no term limits. It's a matter for him and the Labor Party. It's not really a matter for me at all.

What's the next step for you? It sounds like there is a lot of pressure for the prime minister to set a date to go.

He has said he wants a stable and orderly transition, and people from the party are asking him: What does that mean?

Some say Blair is setting up a candidate against you.

These things are said. I've just got to get on with my job. I think things will work themselves out.

But you want to be prime minister, right?

I've been in this job long enough to know, first of all, that it's what you do rather than which position you hold that matters. And equally, that you don't tempt fate by making rash announcements.

It's getting fairly tricky to avoid tripping over all these hints Brown keeps dropping... When is the move going to be made, and who - considering Brown is desperate to keep his hands clean and avoid Heseltine's fate - is he going to get to make it for him?

permalink | posted by Nosemonkey