Gordon Brown: the new Nixon?

Melissa Kite regards the jacket worn by Gordon Brown on his holiday as the final straw.

When I saw it, I was struck by a different thought. It's the clifftop shot:

During the 1968 campaign, Nixon's advisers told him he should try to emulate Kennedy's style. Kennedy, during his time in office, had been photographed on a Cape Cod beach with rolled-up pants and bare feet, holding hands with his children.

Nixon tried to stage a similar photo shoot at San Clemente, Calif.

"Nixon was photographed trying to be Kennedy, except -- it's absolutely classic -- he couldn't take off his shoes and couldn't roll up his pants," [Politics Professor Edmund] Beard said. "So he was walking on the beach in black wing-tip shoes."*

In fact, the more I think about it - isn't Gordon Brown's resemblence to Richard Nixon striking?

The rages, the awkwardness, the resentment of Blair/the Kennedys, the intense periods of hard work until late in the night, the clumsy attempts at populism, the misplaced smile, the unbelievable partisan fervour, even the jowls.

I am not, by the way, remotely suggesting that Brown is, or ever could be, a crook. But even his painful austere honesty has a bit of Nixon in it.

*You can see the image here.

Comments

[James]

Brown is no way like Nixon. Nixon was the original comeback kid. Nixon was also adept at deflecting attention away from home affairs and onto foreign policy.

Nixon opened-up relations with China and reached a new level of detente with Russia. Kissenger brokered a peace agreement with Isreal and Egypt that opened the way to Camp David.

Nixon had approval ratings in the high 60s until Watergate started to snowball.

In short, Nixon did a lot - mostly legal - but some things illegally - and will go down in history as an important (and somewhat tragic in the greek sense) US President.

Brown, however, has done nothing.

[Ken]

Danny, your comments are an insult to Nixon, who, when he wasnt being a crook, was a succesful President. He normalised relations with China, pulled out of Vietnam, oversaw school integration, started arms control negotiations with the USSR. Gordon Brown is a rather stupid individual who benefitted from a period of globalization, low inflation, high growth. He spent the proceeds poorly, mainly because he is an unreconstructed equality of outcome socialist. Nixon was a succesful domestic politician managing to become the GoP Presidential candidate in 1968 after losing to Kennedy, and won a landslide victory in 1972. Gordon Brown hasnt led his party in a general election and will no doubt lose horribly. But, you are correct, Brown isnt a crook and tricky Dicky was. But, intellectually and achievement-wise, Gordon isnt fit to clean Dicky's shoes.

[Liam]

Daniel Finkelstein: the new Timmy Mallet?

The same inanities and banal observations.

In fact, the more I think about it - isn't Daniel Finkelstein's resemblance to Timmy Mallet striking?

[LilyS]

Over at Coffee House, Peter Hoskin
compares Brown to Nixon, by way of the film 'Secret Honour':

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/864441/when-politicians-shut-themselves-away.thtml

[Zappy Corleone]

Pardon me, who is Gordon Brown?

[Andy C]

I would argue that Gordon Browns act of selling the nations gold reserves was nothing short of a criminal act.

[Roz A.]

Call me when Gordon gets elected PM. Then we can start the "comparison".

[Tim Kevan]

Maybe like Nixon in the 1960 presidential debate?

[ian payne]

Nixon was corrupt as hell and lied and perjured himself - Brown is unpopular and I can't stand him, but he aint no Nixon !!!

[colin nicholas]

Brown is no crook, he's just awkward and clumsy, and seems to be acting.

His brief photo-op with Hillary a few weeks ago made me wince; the way he shook Hillary's hand as he flashed a smile at the camera. It looked so practiced and so phony I think even Hillary was surprised at what a twit he can be.

[Bill Harding]

Of course Brown's sale of our gold reserves was a criminal act. It's made all the worse by the fact that he has never been properly taken to task for such arrogant, sinister financial mismanagement.

[E. Grenville-Field]

I must respectfully disagree with Ms. Pike that Mr. Brown resembles Nixon. Nixon was able to make a come back.

[Bengy]

Ken, your comments are an insult to Timmy Mallet

[Gerald Unwin]

Nixon - corrupt & tried to get away with it.
Brown - unfortunate, very, very unfortunate & looks like he doesn't stand a chance of getting away with it.
The main difference is the state of intention behind the ineptitude. Gordon is a non-media savvy, hard-working well-intentioned (if they exist) genuine politician (compared to Tony), who (right about the gold/the 10p tax debacle & more) has also been overwhelmed by 'events dear boy'. Richard just wasn't straight & knew it. Gordon might not 'know it' but at least he's straighter than most....

[Margaret on the Guillotine]

Ah, come off it. Nixon won a contested election.

[Anthony]

Gordon a Nixon? Hardly people. Nixon despite getting caught in a burglary was a very effective leader, he ended an unpopular war, opened up historic dialogue with Communist China, and is the most important president in US history on the issue of environment.

What has Brown done? Maybe you guys could help me out on that question because the only achievement I can see is losing election after election.

[Richard]

Nixon was an international statesman - albeit flawed.

Who is Brown? I'd put him in the same category as people like Egon Krenz.

[david]

haha not a crook, let's see if you're still saying that when you finally start to understand what his financial policy has done to the country!

[Bob Evans]

Those who attempt to make a comparison of present day politician with stereotype views of those in the past should tread carefully. Historians are constantly revising views of the past as more information and better understanding come forth. Such is the case with Nixon. Secret recording of the Oval Office? Kennedy and Johnson did it far before Nixon. Interfering with investigations? Think Johnson. Trying to reshape justice? Roosevelt.

Nixon's fate and reputation were shaped by a liberal media as far back as 1952. They were doomed when the media suddenly shouted with horror at what presidents have done since John Adams.

[Alex]

Great comparison, despite the fact you'll find noone to agree with you.

[Gary Smith]

@Tricky Dicky' as Nixon was called
despite his foreign policy so called successes. Dialogue with China and end to Vietnam war, both were realities ignored by him in his first term of office. I was studying in America when the Watergate scandal broke out, saw how Nixon lied every time about his knowledge of it. In the Senate impeachment hearings, the Republican senators supporting him filibustered
the processes frustrating Senator Rodino, the chairman. Except this mechanism which was not going well, there was no other way of removing Nixon. If the 'smoking gun' in the form of the unerased tape recording
was not discovered Nixon would have served his term out blaming the press and his political opponents.
He was even attempting to change the constitution to extend the president's term of office which is restricted to two terms.

In any manner of speaking Brown is not a crook like 'Tricky Dicky'.Whatever we can say about Brown's competence, no one doubts that he is a honourable person.

Finally, the only parallel between Brown and Nixon is the kind of cabal they surrounded themselves with. For Nixon, it was Haldeman and Erlichman duo and for Brown, Balls, Alexander and Ed Milliband Troika.

[GARTH STRONG]

To: LIAM

Sorry, Liam, I think that most readers of THE TIMES will wholeheartedly disagree with your attack on Daniel Finkelstein!

Finkelstein is unquestioably a shining star of THE TIMES online. His columns are consistently
entertaining, intellectually stimulating, informative and challenging! He is in touch, intelligent, aware,and on target!

Who could ask for anything more?

Liam...could you do half as welll..? ? ?

[mufngruf]

y'know.. it's a small, almost nitpicky point..particularly as I agree wholeheartedly with the spirit of the majority of the comments made to this entertaining observation of style similarities.
BUT, as those of us who were living through Nixonia in the sixties and dawning seventies are well aware, let the record show that Nixon did most certainly NOT "pull us out of Vietnam", but rather oversaw, with great stubborn reluctance, the eviction/retreat of US forces and politics by the winning side.. and as for "winning a landslide election" in '72... c'mon...you only win if you play fair.. otherwise it ain't winning, it's theft.
Like I said, small but important points - lest we forget the real history.
thanks for the soapbox

[Edward Green]

I don't recall Nixon stabbing anyone in the back to become President or ruining his country's finances.

For me the striking comparison is between Brown and Humpty Dumpty.

[Chris Wigley]

Time is being deservedly kinder to Richard Nixon, he did much to extradict the US from the mess created by Kennedy and perpetuated by Johnson in Vietnam. These days with leaks of emails etc would the bugging of the Watergate Hotel look so bad?

Likewise history should be kinder to Harold Wilson, he kept this country out of the Vietnam war.

I cannot think that in years to come Gordon Brown will be anything other than "The forgotten Prime Minister", who was into cheap spin (visit to Iraq during the Conservative conference for example). His tranformation into Mr Bean will continue to Mr Hasbeen and unlike one of the unelected leaders Alex Douglas Home he will not be able to say at the end of the day, I loss but did better than my predessor would have done for the party.

[Nicholas Brainsby]

This comparison is so unfair - to Nixon.

RM Nixon was a great politician whose achievements as President have been overshadowed by errors of judgement over Watergate. As for his personal style, Nixon had to compete with Kennedy, one of the iconic style figures of the 60s. Blair is hardly an icon (of style anyway) and Brown has been a failing PM since he crossed the Number 10 threshold. He's also a dull man who couldn't make anything he wore look good.

Nice try, but no comparison.

[haralambos]

Phah! All politicians are crooks but I thought you were reffering to the ridiculous way both men carry their mouths. Remember these are not faces they were born with these are faces they deserve. I see equal measures of insecurity and contempt.

[David K]

... of COURSE Brown is a crook... he just hasn't been investigated yet.

[Tim]

More accurately, Gordon Brown is the new Lyndon Johnson - gaining the top job following the downfall of a fresh faced young leader who came over well on television and had a lovely turn of phrase.

[David, Cambridge]

Nice to see so many of the frothy ideologues here missing the point completely.

Yes Daniel, Brown's total and utter aura of discomfort in any public situation is Nixonian in the extreme. I'm amazed now that anyone thought Brown could pull off the charm that - for good or ill - is so necessary for a successful political leader today.

Loved the photo of Nixon, by the way. Almost balletic in his agony.

[whackman]

Bob gets it right. Tricky Dicky had a bad press. C'mon, did he really invent bugging, stealing elections and lying though his teeth. Really guys!!! As for Brown, what would old 'William' have made of him. I am not sure we have realised yet how privelidged we are to have ringside seat in this very 'shakespearian' of tradgedies. I for one am agog and can't wait for the next act, and the one after that and the one after that. And to think it all 'free'!! Worth all the bank closures and data loses and phantom elections in the world? We might not have lived in the times of Lear, Othello, Hamlet or Mcbeth but by jove we certainly have our own 'Brown'.

[Mike]

Brown has far lower morals than most here seem to realise. His work behind the scenes over many years to protect the guilty and deceive the innocent (esp. around pensions) has to be understood before you can really appreciate who and what he is. He also uses stooges (e.g. Ruth Kelly) to deliver bad news for him, and disappears like the coward he is whenever it seems opportune to do so. I don't know much about Nixon, but I've learned a bit from reading the comments here today.

[P.v.Baal]

Maybe we should ask the late Dr.Arnold Hutschnecker to examine poor old Gorden like he did for Nixon. Nixon was traumatised by his fierce and strict father and overly religious mother.Especially the fact that he was too attached to his mother affected the rest of his life. I think dr. Arnold falls asleep when he examines the PM.

[Whaata Poosiam]

Brown bears an uncanny resemblance to Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean)..........

[Adam]

Yes indeed!!! I have often felt that Brown is very much the UK's Nixon. If you look at Nixon on tape, you will see that he too has the JAW DROP action that Brown has. But Brown has it far more accentuated. It is quite amazing. I've thought this for a long time. But the fact is he also has that TURNED ON SMILE that Nixon also had. They share that as well. Nixon was false as they come. Brown maybe just can't relax, can't smile and certainly doesn't seem to fit in at all. Have you noticed? He lloks so awkward with people around him, especially in public and the view of him and his wife as they went to see the ducks yesterday on hols. He was making those stupid hand gestures - what was that all about. Brains he may have. But the truth is the labour party has elected a man who is NOT A LEADER OF A NATION. He was the wrong choice then and is now. He is a disastrous man to be PM. He can't inspire, can't motivate and all can do is say he will listen. Leaders lead and inspire. He can't do it and that is the real tragedy for Britain. How could be put up with his gloomy countenance for 2 more years. Be merciful and replace him now.

[Graham]

There are two big differences that I can think of between Brown and Nixon.

Firstly Tricky Dicky had charisma and secondly he had something to hide. Gordon may have had something to hide but he knew its value so he sold it(eg our Gold.)

[Neil]

At least Nixon won two elections. Brown was frightened to call an election, ...just in case he lost. "Tricky Dicky" was blatantly a crook, but very clever with it. Gordon Brown appears to have an objectionable personality and, to sum him up, he is really weird.

[C.J. Anderson]

Having lived the Cold WAr era up close, I concur with others that history will be kind to Nixon. It will be much harder on Mr. Brown.

His sale of gold reserves typified his reign - all he understood was the power of collecting cash and spending it. It is not only that he made such a bad decision in selling the gold at such price, it is is that he also wasted the proceeds. Now, with his policies of the last ten years beginning to be revealed as gilt without substance, his economy in tatters and unsupported by the war chest he should have set aside in the good years, he grasps at the excuse of the international credit crunch. Mr. Brown will never accept that his financial crisis, which has not yet fully unfolded, was only accelerated by international influences and was always going to evolve eventually from his disastrous fiscal policies.

Gordon Brown never struck me as a clever or capable chancellor. He was, however, enabled by the years of professional Labour 'spin' to become quite the most devious collector and spendthrift of taxes ever. Sadly, even when recognised as 'hidden taxes' his policies continued to be accepted by the general public. Backed by Blair and New Labour's smokescreen of spin, he became a deft deceiver.

There is often reference to Mr. Brown's 'high moral ground'as an accepted fact, but I see only a self-centred politician who is deeply out of his depth and surely must be aware of that. He has no morals and I fear that he will cling to power for as long as he can and thereby take as much lucre as is possible from the public trough. (His Labour party cronies, for all their public postures, can also see the writing on the wall and will also quite happily delay an election to squeeze out every last drop of their 'public duty' benefits before they are similarly unemployed.)

If Mr. Brown truly had morals and sincerely wanted to aid the underprivileged, then surely he would call an election. Without such a mandate, it is clear he has little authority to pursue any policies of change, groundbreaking or radical, which might improve the lot of the poor and weak of this nation. In any case, his 'tax and spend at any cost' policies appear more and more to have had the biggest negative impact on those with the lowest income.

Finally, I cringe each time Prime Minister Brown meets a foreign leader and purports to speak on behalf of the UK or deigns to address an international conference and tell them that he, as Britain's leader, knows what is best for them and the world. Hardened politicians who have successfully won their own battles must surely sit there and reflect that this pontificator is a lame duck Prime Minister who has not been elected to his role and who definitely will never win a general election for either his party or himself.

[MLC]

I agree entirely with daniel comments!

[Marty]

Yes they can come over in a similar hard working none flash sort of way - neither are/were crooked in doing anything for personal financial gain, unlike some of the others - but while I would have voted for Nixon I would never vote for Brown - hard working and tries hard, but poor judgement, unlucky and so bad news.

[Alessandro Pereira]

I think this article could be a bit presumptuous.

[M. Butcher]

Brown is both weak and dishonest. Over the last ten years when difficult decisions had to be made by the Blair government he would disappear over the horizon. He is dishonest, together with D. Milliband, in failing to honour his promise to the electorate to hold a referendum on the EU Treaty, knowing that the it was the same as the Constitution in all but name, apart from minor changes. He failed to allow a full discourse in Parliament as promised.
Weakness and deceit are these not manifesttations of a bully and a crooked personality.
Nixon left a legacy, Brown will leave a ground zero.

[Ivan]

I agree - to a certain extent - that both Brown and Nixon were awkward with being casual. However, the way that these traits have been received by the public indicate the difference between the two men. Americans found Nixon's discomfort with the casual to be an endearing trait, an indication of a man who would squint in the spotlight, just like a normal person would.

Brown doesn't come across like this - his appearances are so forced, as if he is desperately trying to be normal and failing miserably. His smiles are forced, his words are pushed out like air out of a bellows - Nixon didn't try to conceal being awkward with this kind of repressed hysteria. Brown in contrast appears to have some sort of psychological dysfunction in operation - and people can tell.

[S.B. Whitehead]

One big difference: Nixon was elected.

[Wreckless Eric]

Ah Richard Nixon, Tricky Dicky. Famous for being the only Republican President the liberal intelligentsia hasn't labelled a moron. Unlike Gordon. Who is.