BRITAIN gets a new prime minister today: Gordon Brown, the taciturn Treasury chief who has vowed to win back people's trust, re-evaluate the country's policy in Iraq and tackle extremism with a lighter touch after a decade under Tony Blair. The incoming leader lacks the charisma of his predecessor and he faces the challenge of shaking off the taint of having served in a government that led Britain into the hugely unpopular Iraq war. Yet polls show the ruling Labour Party is benefiting from a "Brown bounce" -- to the point that one survey shows they are leading the Conservative Party for the first time since October.
Most new prime ministers enjoy some kind of political honeymoon. But few had expected the dour former finance chief to be greeted by the public with much enthusiasm. In fact, Brown's ascension was widely seen as a political boon for the more youthful and dynamic Conservative opposition leader David Cameron.
So far, Brown has been able to overturn those expectations by publicizing plans to set a new direction at home and overseas, stamping his own imprint on the office of prime minister. An Ipsos-Mori poll on Sunday showed Labour with the support of 39 percent among those planning to vote in the next election, with the Tories garnering 36 percent. The survey of 1,970 people was taken June 14-20.
No margin of error was given, but in similar samples it is typically plus or minus 2 percentage points. Most closely watched will be Brown's stance on Iraq, where British troop numbers have rapidly fallen through 2007 and soldiers are now stationed on the fringes of the southern city of Basra. Blair has left his successor an option to call back more of the remaining 5,500 personnel by 2008 -- an opportunity likely to be grasped by a leader with a national election to call before June 2010.
BRITAIN gets a new prime minister today: Gordon Brown, the taciturn Treasury chief who has vowed to win back people's trust, re-evaluate the country's policy in Iraq and tackle extremism with a lighter touch after a decade under Tony Blair.
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