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‘Flash’ Gordon ‘Saved The World’ In Parliament

  • December 12th, 2008
  • Posted by Daniel Challis

gordonbrown2004.jpgBritish Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered mild embarrassment in the House of Commons on Wednesday when he claimed to have “saved the world” in a slight slip of the tongue.

Brown was replying to parliamentary jousting from the Conservative leader David Cameron when he said, “We not only saved the world, er, saved the banks”, in referring to his handling of the economic crisis.

BROWN SLIPS UP

The slip-up was met with uproarious laughter by the Opposition, who continued to jeer while the Prime Minister sought to finish his speech.

He eventually recovered once the commotion died-down and finished by saying:”We not only worked with other countries to save the world’s banking system, but not one depositor actually lost any money in Britain.”

He added: “The opposition may not like the fact that we led the world in saving the banking system, but we did.”

Cameron next set out to quickly put ‘Flash Gordon’ in his place, saying the slip-up was “now on the record”.

“He’s so busy talking about saving the world, he’s forgotten about the businesses in the country he governs”, Cameron said.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly rejected humorous comparisons with the cartoon superhero Flash Gordon despite running a campaign slogan last year which read “Not flash, just Gordon”.

Brown has received widespread praise for his handling of the financial crisis thus far but insisted to reporters in October he wasn’t a superhero; he was “just Gordon, I can assure you.”

Britain was one of the first major economies to issue a rescue package for banks falling behind due to the credit crisis, with cash injections and guarantees to induce them to resume lending to each other.

Mr Brown will be at the European summit in Brussels over the next two days, uniting with his 26 counterparts in delivering deals on the economic crisis and climate change, as well as working to keep the Lisbon Treaty — for restructuring the EU — on track (see EUAustralia, “Crisis Meeting”, 11.12.08).

Reference:

Agence-France Presse (AFP), “Britains Brown in ‘save the world slip”, 11.12.08 – http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gLEx2m0od0EviE2IYnmf2lhcjlw, (11.12.08).

Picture: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown