Power out

If you haven’t already, do read Melissa Kite’s column in the Telegraph today. It contains this very telling anecdote about Gordon Brown’s attempt to shoot the breeze with the press:

“As is the tradition when travelling with the press, the Prime Minister came back during his flight from Baghdad to talk to the lobby hacks.

After summarising his view on Iraq, which included a lot of baffling figures about economic growth in Basra, Mr Brown attempted some “small talk”. It was so alarming, it felt as if the entire plane was adopting the brace position. A couple of people looked like they were about to open the cabin doors for some air. All that was missing was a pilot’s announcement urging us to place the overhead masks on our faces and stop panicking.

“It was very hot in Iraq wasn’t it?” the Prime Minister said, lingering horribly as everyone fidgeted and tried to get back to their seats to strap themselves in.