Chapter 315 Gentleman’s Agreement

"Welcome, Mr. Brown, it's a pleasure to have you here for dinner."

"It is an honor, Your Highness."

Barron invited Gordon Brown to his house in Richmond Park.

This villa is part of the legacy left to Barron by Lady Emma. It is located next to the secluded Richmond Park. It was later renovated by him and served as a secret meeting place for Barron - the last visitor here. It was Kolo President Jammeh Bongo.

Gordon Brown, an important figure in the Labor Party, worked with the current Prime Minister to reform the Labor Party and became New Labour.

In June of this year, Brown, 53, broke the record for consecutive tenures set by David Lloyd George nearly a century ago.

George served as Chancellor of the Exchequer for a total of 7 years and 43 days from 1908 to 1915.

At the same time, Brown is widely considered to be the favorite to be the next prime minister in next year's British election.

However, Barron knew that the reserved and elegant Mr. Brown before him would stay in the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer for ten years - from the beginning of the Labor Party's coming to power in 1997 until the resignation of the current Prime Minister in 2007, when he took over.

Yes, Blair will still participate in next year's general election and be re-elected...

Speaking of the relationship between Brown and the current Prime Minister, it is also very delicate. The two were once "rising stars" of the Labor Party. They even shared an office and were close collaborators. But now, the relationship between them has begun to become complicated. .

This is why Brown came to Barron's villa today to meet with him.

Last year, the British filmed a TV series called "Gentlemen's Agreement", which tells the story of the process of Blair becoming Prime Minister, and mentioned the "Gentlemen's Agreement" between Blair and Brown.

To put it simply, in early May 1994, John Smith, then leader of the Labor Party, died suddenly of a heart attack, so the Labor Party needed to elect a new leader.

At that time, Britain was governed by the Conservative Party, and the Labor Party had been in opposition for 18 years.

In the competition for the leadership of the Labor Party, the most competitive are Tony Blair, who serves as shadow home secretary, and Brown, the finance minister.

They reached a gentlemen's agreement in a London restaurant, with Brown willing to give up the leadership race to give Blair a better chance of winning.

In return, Brown will have great power in the cabinet that Blair will lead in the future, and if Blair can become prime minister, the other party promises to support Brown to become the next leader of the Labor Party after the end of two terms.

This is the so-called Blair-Brown trade. Although the two parties involved have never admitted it, the subsequent development of things generally followed this.

In the subsequent Labor leadership election, Blair actually won because his biggest rival Brown gave up.

As soon as he came to power, he promoted the abolition of the nationalization line that the Labor Party had adhered to for many years and implemented centrism that can be either left or right.

Calling the Labor Party New Labor emphasized that his approach aroused strong dissatisfaction among traditionalists within the party, but gained a lot of public support.

In the 1997 British general election, Blair led the Labor Party to win an overwhelming majority of seats, ending the Conservative Party's 18-year dominance. At this time, Blair was five days short of his 44th birthday, making him the youngest person in Britain in the past 200 years. Prime Minister.

After he came to power, he immediately appointed Gordon Brown as the second-in-command in the cabinet and Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he has held to this day.

"Actually, we have a lot in common, Mr. Brown. For example, we both like Chinese food. At the same time, I also believe that China is a force that cannot be ignored in the future. Maintaining a good relationship with them is based on the interests of the United Kingdom."

Barron looked at Brown with a smile and said:

"Yes, the interests of Great Britain should be the guideline for our actions, not other fancy things. Even alliances with the United States and Europe need to be based on this criterion. Following every step is not what I want."

It is no secret that Brown likes Chinese food. For more than ten years, the restaurant he has frequented most often is a restaurant in London called "Sin Ma Xing" that focuses on Cantonese cuisine and caters to the working class.

Every time he ordered "Pineapple Chicken" and steamed rice, and he was even more proficient with chopsticks. Under his influence, his wife Sarah and their children also became regular customers of this restaurant.

Therefore, for this dinner, Barron asked his Chinese chef who is good at Cantonese cuisine to prepare a table of meals for Brown, including "Pineapple Chicken".

Judging from the current scene, it is very interesting to see two British people skillfully using chopsticks to taste a table of Chinese food.

In addition, Brown is also a British Prime Minister who is relatively friendly to China, which is very different from Blair. He later attached great importance to the relationship between the two countries after becoming Prime Minister, and after leaving office, he also had a high level of interest in the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. evaluate.

In Barron's words to Brown at this time, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the current prime minister for following the United States too step by step, and even not making decisions based on the British position to a certain extent.

This is also some kind of hint given by Barron to the Prime Minister as the feud with Brown becomes increasingly clear.

Since the beginning of this year, media reports have continued to spread rumors about the discord between the two.

Some media described that the internal strife between the Prime Minister and Brown was close to "out of control" and the relationship between the two had reached the point of "mutual hatred and contempt."

According to the "gentleman's agreement" between the two, the Prime Minister has been in office since 1997. This is already his second term.

He should have resigned as leader of the Labor Party before next year's general election and handed over his candidacy to Brown - British elections are not different from American-style elections. In the United States, the leader is directly elected, while in Britain it is a competition between political parties. Parliamentary majority, the leader of the party that obtains the majority of seats becomes Prime Minister and forms a cabinet.

But since last year, Blair has continued to mislead Brown on whether to resign...

He first promised to resign as prime minister this fall and hand power to Brown when his situation was not good.

But what Brown didn't expect was that after a while, when Blair found that his support rate had rebounded and his re-election prospects were bright, he immediately betrayed this promise...

Barron received more detailed information than those from the media, and in this meeting with Brown, Brown also mentioned some details...

For example, in November last year, when the Prime Minister had dinner with Brown, he said that he had painfully realized that he had lost the trust of British voters due to the Iraq War, so he decided to resign before the general election and transfer power to Leave it to Brown.

At the time, he emphasized that he needed Brown's help to get through the difficulties in the coming year.

Then over the next few weeks, the two had a series of discussions about the transfer of power, including issues of strategy and timing.

Next, in March this year, the Prime Minister promised Brown that he would formally announce his resignation in the autumn after Parliament adjourned in mid-April.

However, after the idea was revealed, many of the prime minister's supporters in the cabinet blocked his resignation and helped him through the difficult period.

From this point on, the other party never mentioned Brown's resignation again.

Brown gradually realized that the prime minister's words might not count.

Especially after the results of the local elections were announced on June 12 this year, the Prime Minister discovered that the Conservative Party led by Michael Howard was not as strong as imagined, so his confidence increased and he believed that he might win the election.

After that, his attitude towards Brown changed obviously. How could Brown not feel this...

Barron knows that, according to the development of the original time and space, Blair will participate in next year's general election and win.

However, he will be forced to resign in 2007 and give up his position to Brown.

And Brown is also tragic. After three years in office, he became one of the most "short-lived" prime ministers.

But this does not affect Barron's investment in him to a certain extent, especially now that his hope of "taking over" as prime minister seems to be getting slimmer.