Reporters left Gordon Brown's No 10 press conference wearing a collective frown. What was the news story out of that 70-minute ordeal? What could they get out of that? I think the Press Association news agency did the right thing by focusing on Brown's efforts to reassure voters on the economy. That's what worries voters most at present. But it must have been a struggle.
Gordon Brown at his monthly press conference today. Photograph: Stephen Hird/Reuters
Brown came properly briefed on most of the issues of the moment - from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Beijing Olympics, cannabis and immigration - but he majored in what he is doing with others to help shore up the global economy.
Fine, except he talks too much without stopping and does not say things in ways that watching voters find easy to connect with. His new minders, standing at the back of the dining room where these events are staged, will have noted it all. As so often, shorter usually means better.
He hinted that he wants cannabis reclassified again, he wants football captains to take more responsibility for misconduct on the field, he likes all three would-be presidential contenders - as well as George W Bush.
He made no gaffes and was able to defend his economic record - no spending cuts and (unlike the ECB) two interest-rate cuts in response to the financial crisis. He deplored the "off-balance-sheet" liabilities of the major private banks, which are threatening the entire banking system, though he could modestly have mentioned all those multibillion PFI contracts which the Brown Treasury rules kept off its books.
He is also listening to voters - the only way to formulate effective policy nowadays, explained Professor Brown. But are they listening to him? The session's most charming moment came when he was asked - by a Spanish reporter - about Sarah Brown's views of that smacker of a kiss he gave Carla Bruni-Sarkozy last week.
Looking forward to meeting her again, he said with a beam. Before remembering who he was and where. "British reserve," he added mysteriously. Not a disaster, but not a triumph either. More work needed.
