Jeremy joins Gordonistas
Labour leader travels to Fife for hush-hush talks with former PM
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has held a secret summit with former prime minister Gordon Brown in Scotland.
The men met for talks as part of Corbyn’s “preparation for government”, the Sunday Mail can reveal.
The beneath- the- radar rendezvous is understood to have taken place in Fife in recent weeks.
A party spokesman said: “We can confirm that Jeremy had a meeting with Gordon Brown.
“It was in person in Scotland and the purpose was part of a process of meeting people and preparing for government.”
Former prime minister Brown and Corbyn have prev iously had a frosty relationship, and the meeting is a sign of growing unity and confidence within the party.
A source said: “Jeremy can now sense something that seemed impossible a year ago – a Labour government with him as leader. He realises that it is a very real prospect, and it could happen very quickly, perhaps before the end of the year given the state of the Tories.
“He is beginning to take on board the huge responsibility that will come with holding the highest office in the land, and while he is his own man with his own ideas, he is happy to take any help and advice he can get.
“He has met up with Gordon to get an insight into the day-to-day pressures, and for tips on how to handle the pace and strain of life in Downing Street.
“The two of them haven’t had the best of relationships in the past, but as Labour has grown in strength, Brown has come to accept that they can win and that Corbyn is the man that the party have chosen to lead the fight.
“While there are many things they disagree on, Brown is Labour through and through. He understands that the time for complaining is over, and it is now time to get behind the party and defeat the Tories.
“The pair of them had a good chat and parted on good terms.
“The meeting is a clear sign that Labour are now putting aside their differences and uniting.
It will be ominous for the Tories, who seem more at odds with one another and more shambolic every day.”
Brown famously refused to mention his party’s leader by name in a speech before the snap general election last year.
But after Labour made big gains in the vote called by Theresa May in June, he has swung behind the left-wing party leader.
In November, he praised his successor’s policy priorities and growing popularity with the public, and called the new leader “a phenomenon”.
He added: “He has come through because he expresses people’s anger at what’s happened – the discontent.
“When he attacks universal credit, he is speaking for many people, when he says t he hea lt h ser v ice is underfunded, he is speaking for many people.
“People feel r ight ly or wrongly that the problems that they have – stagnant wages, inequal ity, pola r isation between rich and poor, public service not being properly financed – they ascribe that to the failures of governments, centrist governments that have not been able to manage globalisation.”
Brown couldn’t be reached for comment.
A cosy chat between Gordon Brown and Jeremy Corbyn, two of Labour’s big beasts, would have seemed implausible a year ago.
At the time, the party were facing a general election wipe-out and senior figures were in open mutiny. Former Prime Minister Brown flatly refused to even mention his party’s leader by name in a speech leading up to the June 8 poll. Corbyn returned the snub by failing to visit Brown when he toured Scotland. What a difference a year makes. After spectacular gains in an election Theresa May was expected to win by a sizeable majority, Corbyn’s tail is up.
He may give the impression of a leader continually fighting fires but there are a growing number of people who believe in Labour as a party of government.
Corbyn is now so convinced he is heading to No10, planning for the first Labour Government since 2010 is well under way.
Part of that process has been to talk to one of the few people who can give a real insight into the pressures of the job.
Whatever his faults, Corbyn is a bridge builder and it is not difficult to imagine him holding out an olive branch to Brown despite their past differences.
While Brown’s obstinacy is legendary, he has surely come to accept there is more that unites he and Corbyn than divides them. While Tony Blair comes from a different school of thought – an aversion to publicly run industry and punitive tax levels for the rich – Brown is far less ideologically opposed to these things.
His main concern with Corbyn seemed to be he didn’t think he could win from a stridently left wing position.
But as opinion poll after opinion poll shows Labour ahead, Brown appears to have come around to the belief that a Labour Party led by Corbyn can sweep to power.
Undoubted big differences still exist between the two men – not least on Europe – but Brown’s loyalty to the Labour Party has always been unbending. And it is that loyalty which will have made it difficult for him to reject the opportunity.
It is unlikely Brown will have been giving Corbyn specific tips on big policy decisions.
If he did, it would likely be to avoid obviously punitive income tax rises, and instead to deploy stealth taxes on the rich.
He would likely advocate working with big business rather than starting damaging battles with industry, and advise keeping public finances under control, rather than borrowing huge amounts to fund infrastructure projects.
He would want a more pro-Europe message and would be unlikely to back the nationalisation of railways and utilities. But he will know Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell have their own ideas.
It is more likely Brown will have given advice on how to get things done in office and how to work with the civil service.
He will also have invaluable insights on handling international relations.
Corbyn will have a lot to learn – and quickly – should he gain the keys to Downing Street – and he is old and wise enough to know he will need all the help he can get.
The crucial knowledge that Brown can offer is what it is like to have power and to wield it.
If nothing else, his blind hatred of the Tories will have been enough to make him want to lend a hand.