Brown and Walpole

His colleague Robert Peston might have scooped all the accolades in the past year (pun intended), but it is Nick Robinson who inspires me to fandom. I was therefore delighted to learn that the BBC’s political editor is to present a series examining, “the history of those who've lived and worked behind the most famous front door in the world”. That is British Prime Ministers, for those of you a little sluggish of mind on a Monday morning.

By way of introduction Robinson’s blog contains a fascinating little article drawings parallels between Gordon Brown and a famous predecessor, Sir Robert Walpole. The first Prime Minister presided over an economic crisis prompted by a bursting bubble of investment in the South Seas. He also faced media criticism every bit as robust as anything Gordon Brown has had to contend with.

It should be an interesting programme and I’d imagine it will become available on I Player.

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