Gordon turned up late on purpose

Gordon Brown’s decision to turn up in Lisbon yesterday to sign the new EU treaty but only as the other leaders were leaving left him looking more like Mr. Bean than ever. It was typical of how Brown doesn’t quite get triangulation.

The excuse the Brownites trotted out was that he had already agreed to talk to the Commons Liaison Committee on Thursday morning and so couldn’t be in two places at once. But as James Kirkup points out over at Three Line whip the timing for this doesn’t add up. Brown claims he agreed to his date with the Liaison Committee on the 5th but the Portuguese had informed the rest of the EU of the date of the signing ceremony back in October. So, even by Brown’s version of events Number Ten knew there would be a fixture clash before he agreed to go before the Liaison Committee; suggesting that he was deliberately double-booked.