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Brown the frown - now Brown the clown He has waited more than ten years to be Prime Minister. Ten years plus biting nails, frowning with frustration, waiting, occasionally plotting, to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but lacking courage to wield the political knife and plunge it into his arch-enemy, Blair. Well, he is there now. After a hundred days of posturing and preening as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, he has shown a fatal lack of courage to call a general election to legitimise his role. Furthermore, he has exhibited a total lack of integrity, in justifying his decision not to call a General Election this year. Putting it bluntly, he lied, blatantly and without shame, denying that polling results played any part in the decision he made. To any of us, normal people going about our business, trying to make ends meet, planning for our own and our children's future, what we badly needed after Blair was a man who told us the truth, no matter how inconvenient it may have been. We all have a low enough opinion of politicians, who appear to us determined to feather their nest at our expense. What we do not want them to do is to lie to us as well about anything, least of all a matter that concerns the nation and its future. And he has not stopped lying, cheating, even smirking at the gullibility of us voters, who he expects to tick his Labour box whenever he deigns to give us the chance to do so. That must be the grossest insult ever for the people of this proud nation. We seemed to like the Tory proposal to seriously modify the Inheritance Tax in our favour, so he offers us a diluted version of the same, and grins like a schoolboy at his Tory opponent, as if he has just pinched his lollipop. Is that what we want as leader of this proud nation? It seems Blair the liar has been replaced by Brown the cowardly liar. One Labour ex-minister has accused him of being dishonest. Read all about it here: ( by James Chapman, Deputy Political Editor, Daily Mail, October 16, 2007) One of the architects of the EU Constitution yesterday denounced Gordon Brown's stance on the new treaty as 'patently dishonest'. Gisela Stuart, a former Labour minister, spoke out as it became clear the Government was ready to accept the treaty as it stands without offering a referendum on the issue. Labour rebels are canvassing possible support for a public vote on the treaty as the debate moves to Parliament. Four former ministers - Miss Stuart, Frank Field, Kate Hoey and Graham Stringer - and 40 other Labour MPs are ready to defy Mr Brown according to party sources. The Prime Minister heads to Lisbon on Thursday to finalise the contents of the document with other EU leaders. After private talks with Foreign Secretary David Milliband in Luxembourg yesterday, Portugal's Europe Minister suggested it was a done deal. Manuel Lobo Antunes said: "The UK is happy with this text. They made an important intervention in favour of the treaty so I don't see any major problems." The developments prompted Miss Stuart to warn the Prime Minister his refusal to offer a referendum was dangerously 'out of touch' with what the majority of voters wanted. Her intervention is particularly surprising as she was the Government's representative on the EU committee which drew up the original blueprint. She dismissed the Government's much-vaunted 'red lines' - giving it a series of exemptions from the treaty - as 'red herrings'. She said they had all been in the previous version of the constitution, on which Labour promised a referendum in 2005. And she warned Mr Brown against creating a 'contrived row' over the red lines in an attempt to suggest he had scored a victory over other EU leaders. Miss Stuart, the MP for Edgbaston, took colleagues aback with the strength of yesterday's attack. Writing for the Daily Mail's sister paper, the London Evening Standard, she insisted: "It's a matter of trust and integrity. A referendum was promised. It should be delivered. If Labour can't trust the people, why should the people trust Labour." Miss Stuart told Mr Brown he was already 'in a hole' and should 'stop digging' rather than 'digging another one on Europe'. She added: "When he entered Number 10, Gordon Brown sought to present himself as a national leader focussed on serious issues, offering a new style of politics - engaging and listening to people and involving them in important decisions. Recent events have shown some rather old-style politics, with the Prime Minister looking indecisive and lacking veracity. To pretend that Labour was now gearing up for an election, or that opinion polls played no part in the decision to postpone it, was silly and gave David Cameron some of his most damaging ammunition. Miss Stuart said Mr Brown could not hope to restore his 'dented authority' unless he honoured Labour's promise to hold a referendum on the EU treaty. She said she believed the Prime Minister's 'Praetorian Guard' of close advisers would argue that strong leadership meant 'hunkering down'. She also predicted that they were committed to 'ramming' the treaty through Parliament using the Government's substantial majority. But she added: "Sticking to your guns in defence of a patently dishonest position is not leadership, but the soft option, and a cop-out from a specific promise made to voters. She dismissed Mr Brown's argument that a referendum was not needed on the new treaty as it was different from the now abandoned constitution. She said the new document had '90 - 95%' of the same content as the old one. The treaty would create the first long-term president of the EU from 2009, as well as an all-powerful EU foreign policy chief. It would also abolish Britain's right to veto EU proposals in 50 policy areas. Will Brown bow to press pressure over 'challenge' of the EU treaty?
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