Where were you when JFK was shot? That’s a classic, but I wasn’t born then, so tragically I can’t answer. Where were you when the World Trade Centre was attacked? Another classic, and I can tell you I was in Geography, fifth period. Where were you the day Tony Blair’s book, A Journey, was released? Not such an essential one, but I remember being in a car discussing the potential revelations of the book, as well as how he donated his substantial advance to a charity for ex-soldiers (we also played I Spy to make our journey a bit more fun). Where were you when Gordon Brown released Beyond the Crash - his defence of his economic decisions as Prime Minister and his predictions for the future - breaking his seven-month silence after renouncing the position? Well, wherever you are now, but it’s unlikely you’ll remember it.
We at Biteback haven’t read Gordon Brown’s Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalisation (to give the book its full title) and are thus unable to comment directly on the text itself. However, having preferred the human, and less statistical, aspects of Geography and having read the edited extract in the Guardian yesterday, we can tell you that it’s probably not our kind of book anyway. Herein, we feel, lies the problem.
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A Journey, Tony Blair’s personal story of his time in politics, promised a comprehensive and explicit account of every part of his premiership, from the Iraq War to relations with the US government, including such key figures as George W. Bush and even Brown himself. Without having the exact figures in front of us, we can tell you that it sold pretty well. When Random House paid a £4.6 million advance to the ex-PM we believe they may have had an inkling that that was going to be the case.
Put simply, the mass-market appeal can’t be denied. Information about the Iraq War and other of the biggest political events to happen in the last decade of British history from the horse’s mouth is something many people want to read about. The press coverage at the time was massive, with journalists and reviewers picking it apart, before launching into Katy Perry’s ‘California Gurls’ (OK maybe that was just the radio station I was listening to).
Whilst there is an audience for Brown’s analysis of the decisions he made on the economy throughout his premiership, it hardly compares with that of Blair’s. The Spectator stated that Brown believes he is “sniping from the moral high ground” by not including intimate details of the relationships that formed his time at No. 10, whether it be with colleagues or other significant figures. Brown’s avoidance of this alongside his unwillingness to place the blame on the topics that filled the headlines, may offer an explanation for why The Spectator was one of the relatively few publications to cover the book’s release.
However, this could also be down to the fact that the book’s premise promises no insights into one of the most enigmatic figures in modern politics. Brown is still holding back and maintaining the defences that have led to him becoming so maligned by the media and the public.
Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge’s definitive portrait of Gordon Brown’s time as PM, Brown At 10, employs accounts from the heart of Gordon Brown’s government. With the Brown defences still holding strong the best way to understand the complex man is through the external views gleaned by Seldon and Lodge, who shed light on the troubled figure at the chaotic heart of British politics.
Order your copy of Brown At 10 by Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge here for £20