Devalued Prime Minister..

[Lichtgestalt]

Making the rounds at the moment

[Morrolan]

good one...

[baloo]

Nice

[Bender]

Outstanding! When the British do it, they do it so well.

[Fresh Mint]

A European member of parliament is about as useful as tits on a bull.

[Fat Bob]

He's having his moment. As much as he's right, he's an MEP.

[Dinosaur]

But if you put him and William Hague together - ooff, that'd shake things up in the UK. Mr PK tells me that he's been a speech writer for William Hague too.

[Fat Bob]

Thing is Brown has 12 more months left at the head of the UK government. No matter how many people want him out, until he loses a vote of no confidence or some other such thing in the Commons, he's here until May 2010. I can see no reason why he would call an earlier election!

[Kooky]

But if you put him and William Hague together - ooff, that'd shake things up in the UK. Mr PK tells me that he's been a speech writer for William Hague too.

Well his own speech was certainly scripted and well-rehearsed, wasn't it? He sounded like one of those supercilious gits on a Radio Four quiz show.

[Dinosaur]

Well, I thought it was a brilliant speech. K - you're taking this Leftie thing a bit too seriously

[Kooky]

Never been politically minded, just think he sounds/looks a tad smug.

[BoD]

I am tending with K a bit here. I am no fan of Gordon Brown, and the speech was well-written and delivered. However, I am not sure the the European Parliament is really the right place to such a speech. The sarcasm was inappropriate and the whole thing just smacks of smarmy opportunism. Such things should be reserved for the UK parliament.

[Dinosaur]

But that's it - he's not in the UK parliament so where else can he vent his spleen? Sarcasm - yeh I'm a big sarcasm fan I'm afraid.

[Kooky]

Which takes us back to

A European member of parliament is about as useful as tits on a bull.

However, he did guarantee his 15 minutes, give or take a few, so I would imagine mission accomplished.

I do sarcasm and cynicism in equal measures.

[BoD]

Don't get me wrong. I like sarcasm. I just think that in front of the European Parliament we should be showing some degree of unity, not using it an a opportunity to score points against the govt (or opposition) There are plenty of Conservative MPs who could have done the same domestically

[Lichtgestalt]

I think in the EU parliament the alliances run more cross-country along conservatives, greens, etc. than according to country

[BoD]

Then it is even more pointless than I thought

[cromasaig]

He knew that there was going to be a spotlight, and he wanted his share of it. As BoD says, that's not to say that it wasn't a good speech, but I think its aim had less to do with solving the UK's economic problems than getting a stint on Have I Got News For You.