Standing up for Gordon

OK so that may sound like a rather ridiculous title for a blog post. I mean, he doesn’t exactly need me standing up for him does he? He’s the Prime Minister for goodness sake!

And yes while that’s true, I just wanted to briefly share with you why I think Gordon Brown is not only the best man for the job as Prime Minster, but also why I think he’s actually a thoroughly good and decent man with it.

A few years ago now while Gordon Brown was Chancellor, a charity I was volunteering with, Chance UK, nominated him for ePolitix’s Charity Champion Award for Children and Youth because of his unerring devotion to improving the lives of children and young people in the UK. Unable to make the awards ceremony himself, me and the cool kid I was mentoring (Cory) went along to pick up the award on his behalf – quite an honour!

Later that month, Gordon Brown invited the pair of us (as well as his mum, sister and the Chance team) to meet him at the Treasury. As you might expect he was in a hurry (he was preparing for an imminent trip to Africa I seem to remember) but still he, awkwardly and endearingly, posed for photos and asked questions of Cory about his favourite football team Arsenal (he rattled off the names of the first team in a bid to win Cory’s affections – it worked).

I saw this amazing connection and devotion to children again last weekend at a garden party in Bedford. In a whirl of media madness and cramped crowds, I saw a man under immense pressure take the time to crouch down and chat to the children tucked down by the TV cameras. Not in a kissing babies way, but in a heartfelt way. The other heart warming moment came when, on the way out, Sarah cleared the crowds and snapped some pics of Gordon with the crowd, totally naturally and just like any one of us would want to do in the same situation.

So why am I telling you all this now? Well straight after the Bedford garden gathering, we headed to the Open University in Milton Keynes to listen to Gordon give his take on international development. And it reminded me not only that Gordon is a good man (I knew this already) but also that he is truly the only one of the three party leaders that I believe is up to the serious job of leading this country and using our wealth and influence for good across the world.

Before making snap judgements about Gordon Brown, before judging him on his smile, his telepresence or his choice of tie, please please take some time out to watch this video.

This is why I think this country, and the world, will be a better place on May 7th with Gordon Brown as our Prime Minister.

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This post was first written by Dominic Campbell, one of our Inside the Campaign reporters, on Socialish.