Brown and the London papers today

The papers are putting Blunkett and “His former lover nanny’s visa story” on their front pages again, The Guardian, Independent, Daily Mail, and more. But Financial Times has got Gordon Brown and his new budget.

Brown gets his criticism but it is the sort of criticism that can lead to a decent political argument, not mud throwing because Brown is respected and his opponents even agree that he is a good politician. But what is happening now is that he is becoming a good candidate too, he looks natural kissing babies in front of cameras and his “Father of the nation” hair cut has got a boyish flair. He seems to be growing an element of coolness which new voters may respond to. Maybe he is being re-designed.

Labour´s spin might push him forward today and all this week to swift the attention away from Blunkett. That’s ok. That´s politics, and they want to help Blunkett. He is not Peter Mandelson. Brown will also be the next Labour leader and probably the man remembered for uniting the Labour party after Iraq. Tony can´t do that.