Globe and Mail European bureau chief Doug Saunders interviews former UK Labour prime minister Gordon Brown this weekend. It's an interesting read and probably would have been a better one for a Canadian audience to note that what Brown advocates in his book and in this interview is remarkably similar to what Canada's Prime MInister Stephen Harper has been advocating in one global summit after another for the last two years. Moreover:
- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Brown have an excellent personal connection during Brown's tenure, aides to Harper have told me.
- Harper and Brown established their personal relationship while Brown was the Tony Blair's finance minister.
HarperBlair, I should note, is one of the politicians Harper most admires. - Harper has a Master's degree in economics; Brown has a doctorate in history and was Chancellor of the Exchequer for a decade. David Cameron's background is largely in public relations.
- Harper's conversion to the kind of Keynesian economics espoused by Brown was first enunciated here, during a speech Harper gave at the annual APEC leader summit in Peru in 2008. The language/rationale Harper used then is remarkably similar to what Brown is telling Saunders.
And, of course, Brown's successor, the Conservative David Cameron, has taken quite a different approach than that advocated by both Brown and Harper. Cameron is taxing banks, raising taxes, and slashing government spending. Harper has led a global campaign against taxing banks; is resolute against raising taxes; and Harper's government has become the biggest-spending government in Canada's history.