Gordon Brown's "reign of terror" alleged in new book (News Feature)

By Anna Tomforde Feb 11, 2010, 15:56 GMT

London - Far from being the mild-mannered 'son of the manse' with a puritanical streak and a heart for the underdog, Gordon Brown is a power-hungry, shouting and furniture-kicking control-freak who terrorizes staff, a new book claims.

Where Powers Lies portrays the hapless 58-year-old British leader as a choleric, displaying extraordinary flashes of anger by 'shouting at staff, jabbing an angry finger, throwing down papers, even kicking furniture.'

It does not, however, corroborate recent reports that mobile phones have also been flying.

The author, Lance Price, a former BBC correspondent turned 'spin doctor' for Brown foe Tony Blair in 1988, describes a 'reign of terror' in Downing Street since Brown took over power in June 2007.

In it, a string of unnamed former and present 'insiders' accuse Brown of being 'pathetic' and indulging in 'self-pity.'

At the same time, he undermined strategy and leadership with his 'obsession with short-term detail' and desire to 'control every detail of policy and presentation.'

'It isn't a very nice place to work. However bad it sometimes looks from the outside, it's far, far worse from the inside. And the atmosphere is very much set by him,' reported one anonymous witness, backing up earlier suggestions that Brown suffered from 'psychological flaws.'

Another said Brown was always looking for someone else to blame when something went wrong, and his behaviour towards junior staff was 'unforgivable.'

Brown faced the last few months before the general election 'with trepidation,' Price wrote in extracts from the book published in the Independent newspaper Thursday.

Under him, New Labour had lost its most powerful weapon - mastery of the media, he claims.

'Lance Price has absolutely no idea what goes on in Downing Street,' a government official told the Independent. 'The world of Downing Street according to Lance Price is a complete fantasy.'

So, who is right. At a time of heavy electioneering, both the derogatory accounts of the Downing Street incumbent, and his defence, should be treated with a pinch of salt, commentators believe.

But they also note that the allegations are not new, and point out that more is to come in a further book by Andrew Rawnsley - like Price a veteran journalist and writer leading towards the left-liberal camp.

'All this is in the open secret category, and it provides evidence of somebody being uncomfortable with the job they are doing,' Tony Travers, social and political analyst at the London School of Economics (LSE) told German Press Agency dpa.

'Part of him (Brown) really wants to be prime minister, but the other part of him does not have the defence mechanism to survive,' said Travers.

British prime ministers needed to be 'tough and aggressive,' and shouting at subordinates could only ever be interpreted as a sign of weakness, he said.

'It is tragic in the sense that he (Brown) is an intellectual and liberal man who appears trapped in a difficult job and slips into awkward pattern of behaviour,' said Travers.

Brown, however, is likely to see things differently. He would argue that his style marks a deliberate departure from the 'sofa government' of Blair's 'cool Britannia.'

On coming to power, Brown vowed to 'end the era of celebrity politics' of the Blair years and said he would be guided by the moral compass of the son of the manse - a reference to his childhood and upbringing in the home of a Scottish Presbyterian Church minister.