Yoshihide Suga is the Japanese Gordon Brown
‘Analytical intelligence, absolutely. Emotional intelligence, zero’. That was Tony Blair’s withering assessment of his successor Gordon Brown. It is a description which could as easily be applied to Japan’s beleaguered prime minister Yoshihide Suga. The former chief cabinet secretary, long-time right-hand man and ‘brain’ of long serving PM Shinzo Abe is showing alarming Brownite tendencies in his handling of the media and political relationships. Amid plummeting poll ratings the rumour is that he’ll be lucky to make it to his first anniversary in power. Like Gordon Brown, Suga took over as PM from a three-time election winner. The unexciting Shinzo Abe was no ‘Bambi’ Blair – though they had spouses who
