Why is this man smiling?
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.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAspEPVQECE[/youtube]
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