What does Brown think about Sarkozy?

The opinion polls are unambiguous. Every one since the first round points to a Sarko victory this weekend. Yes, they are close. But if you take them together as a single sample a statistician would tell you that the chances that Ségo is in fact ahead at the moment is, to all intents and purposes, zero.

There has been a great deal of comment about Mr Blair's attitude to M. Sarkozy. But that isn't what matters, of course. What matters is Gordon Brown's attitude to him. And as with most things, we don't really know what that is.

Martin Kettle wrote rather well last week about Brown's ambivalence:

He knows Sarkozy from their days as fellow finance ministers. The Browns and Sarkozys have dined à quatre. Most importantly of all, Brown is comfortable with Sarkozy's deregulatory economic instincts and with his openness to America. And yet Brown hesitates. When Sarkozy launched his election campaign in London, Blair met him while Brown made his excuses. Brown has put out feelers towards the Royal camp too, which Blair has not.

The columnist ascribes this to indecision about the direction of his foreign policy. I found that quite convincing. But whatever the reason, Brown is right to be cautious about Sarkozy.

Sarko's desire to have a strong single European policy on immigration, for instance, and a European treaty with no referendum could cause Brown problems on the left and the right simultaneously.

But I was impressed at the news about the dinner à quatre. Getting Mr Sarkozy to have dinner with Mrs Sarkozy is quite an accomplishment.

Comments

[David Moss]

Indecision.

Now where have I heard that before?

Oh yes, I know, on the Times website: "Gordon Brown pulled out of a press conference with Paul Wolfowitz at the last minute today, but denied it was a snub" [1].

Er, have we got a decisionmaker-who-can't-make-decisions problem on our hands?

1. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article1737612.ece

[Julian Connor]

have you got a photo of his Missus then ?

[Marc de Berner]

When Sarkozy is elected on sunday at least he will be elected by a popular vote... Brown has been chosen by the brown nose labour party. Roll on the next election in the UK so we can at least we can choose who will be our great leader

[Sutton, UK]

Much more likely that Brown's hesitancy is due to his natural empathy for Royal's egalitarianism and redistributist (even means testing) tendencies.

[james hazan]

I'ts realy very simple Brown will tell us what he thinks of Sarkozy on monday morning.

[olivia v cooper]

its obvious.brown has never been a socialist so i guess he likes the guy.sarcozy recent favourite book is the forerunner by adam bentley vines(some clown from lulu.com).sarkozy like brown has got style.but lulu?

[dominique marion]

Rioting on the streets in France due to Sarko's victory - those ungrateful so-and-sos. At least they had the opportunity of voting and having a say in who governs them - even if they weren't happy with the result. Here,we'll have a chancellor foisted on us as PM, we didn't even elect. And judging by the UK's local election results, he'd quite clearly be turfed out if he did call an election.

Lord give me strength, I've voted labour the last three elections and I say it's time for a change; give someone else a chance. Why do politicans think that they have a god-given right to hold power - oh yeah, it's because it suits there self-serving-interests.