Labour leadership

Sunday AM on Sunday 07 January 2007

Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer

Andrew interviewed the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, who spoke of his readiness to become Prime Minister.

Asked if he felt ready for the job, Mr Brown replied:

"I feel there's a job to be done for this country in the next few years.

"I feel I have benefited from the experience of learning as Chancellor, about many of the things are that are important but I also feel more than anything else that I have been out there and will continue to be out there listening to people.

"Hearing what people have to say, making sure that we can link what are the huge changes that are taking place around the world to the personal prosperity and security and opportunity that families in our country have a right to expect, that a government can help them obtain."

Gordon Brown promised a new style of Government if he becomes Prime Minister later this year, stating that he wanted a "new settlement" giving more power to Parliament and the people over issues like whether Britain goes to war.

In place of an overbearing state handing down directions from above to the people, the Chancellor said he wanted "the state as servant" empowering ordinary people to make decisions about their own lives.

Mr Brown insisted he was not taking his move to 10 Downing Street for granted, and said he had not had a conversation with the PM to set a date for the transition of power.

He praised Mr Blair as "a brilliant Prime Minister and an excellent leader of the Labour Party (who) has taken very brave and difficult decisions on so many occasions for which he should be applauded".

But he made clear that he plans to take a much more inclusive approach if he takes power, saying that he wants "a Government of all the talents" drawing on expertise from outside as well as inside the Labour Party.

Mr Brown said that the challenges of the coming decade would require "a new kind of politics in this country ... a new style of government in the future".

War matters

Mr Brown confirmed previous hints that he would be prepared to give the House of Commons a vote on any future decision to go to war, saying that except in an "extreme emergency" he could not conceive of a situation in which it would not have a role to play.

He made clear he envisaged constitutional change to give Parliament a stronger role than it has enjoyed in the past few years.

The Chancellor promised to speak his mind to the US administration and always put the British national interest first in his dealings with Washington if he becomes Prime Minister.

In his first public comments on the relations he expects with the White House, Mr Brown said he was looking forward to working with President George Bush but he also stressed his close relationship with senior figures from the Democratic Party.

UK USA relations

Mr Brown said: "I look forward, if I am in a new position, to working with the President of the United States, George Bush."Obviously, people who know me know that I will speak my mind. I will be very frank.

"The British national interest is what I and my colleagues are about." But he added: "I think everybody who also knows me knows that I have worked very closely with members of both parties in America over the years.

"I have worked with (former Federal Reserve chairman) Alan Greenspan. I have worked with Robert Rubin. I have worked with all the major figures of the previous US administrations and I look forward to working with members of this administration more closely in the months to come".

The Chancellor strongly criticised the manner of Saddam Hussein's hanging. He described the taunting of Saddam before his execution as a "deplorable set of events".

Imelda Staunton, actress

Mr Brown said he hoped lessons would be learned from what had happened:

"Now that we know the full picture of what happened I think we can sum this up as a deplorable set of events. It is something of course of which the Iraqi government has now expressed its anxiety and its shame at. It has done nothing to lessen the tensions between the Shia and Sunni communities".

Andrew was joined via satellite from Baghdad by BBC Correspondent Clive Myrie.

Leading lady

The Oscar-nominated actress, Imelda Staunton, spoke to Andrew about her return to the London stage in the new Frank McGuinness play "There Came A Gypsy Riding" at the Almeida.

Newspapers reviewed by Dame Ann Leslie and Mihir Bose

She also discussed her forthcoming role in the new Harry Potter film, and the effect on her career of having being nominated for an Academy Award.

The newspapers were reviewed by the Daily Mail foreign correspondent, Dame Ann Leslie, and the new BBC Sport Editor, Mihir Bose.

Tune into Sunday AM on Sunday 14 January 2007 at the usual time; 09.00am on BBC One.