Our New, Happy Life

The Glorious Successor has "promised the UN that Britain would try to secure a multilateral solution if the world faces a repeat of the Iraq crisis of 2003". The Independent's political editor, Andrew Grice, appears to be under the illusion that this represents a "break with Tony Blair". Those with non-journalistic memories may recall the case of Katharine Gun, who blew the whistle on the British government's attempt to bug the offices of diplomats from countries whose enthusiasm for the invasion failed to match Blair's high standard of abjection. Tony was perfectly happy to have multilateral backing for the Iraq adventure as long as it didn't inconvenience the Bush administration. By contrast, the Glorious Successor "wants to work through international bodies such as the UN but wants them to be reformed so they are stronger and more effective" in doing as they're told; on the other hand, he "does not rule out military action without UN approval as a last resort", so presumably he does not wish the UN to be quite strong or effective enough to prevent this. Brown also "believes having strong relationships with both America and Europe is in 'the British national interest'", a maxim whose damp grey mid-Atlantic vacuity might mark it as Blairite were Andrew Grice less certain of our glorious New Beginning.

In another spectacular break with the dead and discredited past, Brown "has not announced any change of policy on Iraq", although a cross-party commission set up by Channel Four and a think-tank has held hearings on the future of that sovereign, independent country. Andrew Grice quotes the commission's findings on crossroads, unique opportunities and ways forward. The rest will be broadcast by Channel Four tomorrow. Let's hope Gordon doesn't miss it.