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PM Gordon Brown: “I could walk away from this tomorrow”

Gordon Brown 'It's a strange life, really'

Gordon Brown has admitted that he has been “hurt” by the personal attacks on him during the failed attempt to oust him this month, and said that he might move to teaching after he leaves office.

Speaking to the Guardian in his first interview since the attempted coup by Labour backbenchers, the prime minister made an unprecedentedly frank series of observations on his time in office, reflecting that the recent weeks have been the worst of his political life.

“To be honest, you could walk away from all of this tomorrow,” he said. “I'm not interested in what accompanies being in power. I wouldn't worry if I never returned to all those places - Downing Street, Chequers ... And it would probably be good for my children.”

In an apparent acknowledgement of criticism of a lack of vision at the heart of government, the prime minister said he had found it hard to focus on strategic planning “as you have to deal with immediate events, like if a bank's going to go under”.

For the first time, the prime minister conceded he wished he had imposed a tougher regulatory regime on the banking system, but said he “didn't want Britain to be outside the mainstream” and had been under heavy pressure to deregulate further. He also acknowledged that he “didn't know a lot about” banks buying up sub-prime mortgages during his period as chancellor, but argued that the global nature of modern banking meant such behaviour would “continue to happen”.

Brown insisted that Labour under his leadership could win the next election, for two reasons: that the action the government had taken on the economy and MPs' expenses would start to bear fruit; and that the Tories had admitted that they would make deep cuts in public spending.

He said: “People know we've made these decisions to try to sort the economy out, but they don't yet see the results. Same thing on MPs. You're in that period between the implementation of your policy and the delivery of it.”

On the suggestion that the results would need to start to show quickly if they were to be of any benefit to him, he said, “it's going to take some time”. But he believed they would show in time for the next election.

The idea that any party in government would need to cut public spending was “a myth”, he said, and the Tories' adoption of a strategy of cuts proved that they could no longer “talk about being mainstream”.

Speaking about the tumultuous past month, Brown said that he “wouldn't exaggerate how bad it's been,” but admitted that it was one of the worst experiences of his political life. Asked if he had ever been through something this bad before, he says, “in my political life, not so much”.

In the interview he also:

• rubbished the so-called Hotmail coup of Blairite ministers and backbenchers against him, calling it “the email that nobody signed”.

• said that there was now a “common purpose” between Peter Mandelson and him, and that the Labour party, famously resistant to the business secretary's charms, had finally come round. “People are coming to appreciate his talents in a way the Labour party didn't before ... I think there's a great affection for him now”.

• conceded that he had a weakness in how he presented himself to the public: “I'm not as great a presenter of information or communicator as I would like to be” - and claimed that he is not skilled at political manoeuvring - “I don't actually think I'm very good at it at all.”

• said that the internet means that “foreign policy can never be the same again”. Because of the way information is now distributed, “you cannot have Rwanda again ... foreign policy can no longer be the province of just a few elites.” He descibed this as “more tumultuous than any previous economic or social revolution” and said that “this week's events in Iran are a reminder of the way that people are using new technology to come together in new ways to make their views known.”

• said that he offered Caroline Flint, the former Europe minister, a chance to attend every cabinet meeting, which she declined. Flint resigned saying that Brown used women as “window dressing” and complaining that she was never invited to cabinet; he says he offered her “a promotion, not a demotion.”

• said “it's a strange life, really”, and joked that the best way to run the country would be “from a train, getting around the country”.

The interview took place over two long conversations in Downing Street earlier this month.

By Katharine Viner - The Guardian