The Late Lunch Briefing

A close call for Gordon the Brave

Gordon Brown has belatedly touched down in China and thank goodness he made it. After all, we are told, his car was driving past the Boeing 777 as it was making a crash landing at Heathrow. It could have hit him, you know? All his security was getting very edgy, apparently – it must have been close. Only new Labour could spin a story of a plane crash as being some sort triumph from the mouth of disaster for their leader. Brown lives! Long live Brown!

Of course, the truth is Gordon Brown was on his way to Heathrow at roughly the same time as this jet coming down. The chances of it actually hitting Brown’s car are so extremely remote that there is more chance of finding Elvis Presley on the moon driving a London bus whilst eating a McDonald’s burger. Still, the big man survived. What a courageous leader we have? We should all thank our lucky stars he made it.

The China trip is the right thing to do

The PM is now well into his visit to China. It is definitely the right thing for Brown to be doing, despite all the calls for him to boycott the emerging super power because of its human rights record. Britain needs China, there is no doubt. Iain Dale has reported that the EU sells more to Switzerland than it does to China! Incredible. Yet our imports are massive – one of the reasons why ours and the world economy has done reasonable well over the past few years. We needs China’s cheap imports and there is a real chance of flogging them a few things too – why wait for the rest of Europe and the American’s to beat us to it?

I also think that by getting them to engage with the rest of the world will force China to begin realise its responsibilities to its people. The more the microscope is put on them, the more accountable they will be and they will start to modernise. Whatever we do they will continue to be the fastest growing economy in the world, so why not hitch a ride on the back of it and keep them in check in the process? China is still in the dark ages when it comes to human rights, but already we are seeing that they are having to open up. The Olympics this year will speed that process along by light years. Confrontation will only make things worse for both sides.