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Why is this man smiling?
by Scott Gilbreath ~ April 22nd, 2009
This has got to be the strangest video by a prominent politician that I’ve ever seen. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown grins inanely, jerks back and forth, and even flaps his arms a bit while delivering a message to bolster public confidence in Parliament by tightening up MP’s expense allowances.
One wonders if this tomfoolery is an attempt to distract viewers from his “urgent” proposals. Anne Treneman of The Times:
The cinéma vérité got more vérité as he got mixed up with the autocue but, basically, he is scrapping the second-home allowance. Instead, MPs will receive extra money for coming to Parliament. He called this an “attendance” allowance. I think that is code for “showing up for work”. Wow. Extra money for actually coming to work. This is a draconian crackdown.
If I were a Brit, I would not find this video the least bit reassuring.
The Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts likens the PM to Chief Inspector George Dreyfus of Pink Panther fame.
h/t: Daniel Finkelstein at Comment Central
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