Brown reinforces 'dour' impression

London: In his first seven months as prime minister, Gordon Brown seems to have reinforced the stereotype of the dour Scot - dark suits, stiffness and statistics-crunching economics. His recent visit to India and China did little to dispel that impression.

Compared with France's flamboyant, sharp-tongued president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his current girlfriend, the singer-model Carla Bruni, the staid, happily married Brown seems to lack a certain je ne sais quoi - for the headline-writers, at least.

Since Brown took over from Tony Blair, reporters have trailed him around the world hoping to see him break out of his previous mold as treasury chief and make the transition from a numbers man to a man of the people.

But as he toured Beijing's National Olympic Stadium and laid a wreath at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial in New Delhi, little seemed to have changed.

His speech in the nondescript basement of a New Delhi hotel to business leaders about reform of international institutions to make them more representative of the world today was a worthy, but dry, affair that did little to spice up the trip.

Reporters, on the same sleep-deprived schedule as the PM, struggled to spot an immediate angle.

Even when a major domestic story on the future of collapsed mortgage lender Northern Rock broke during the trip, it was up to entrepreneur Richard Branson - who was among the business delegation travelling with Brown and whose Virgin Group is the leading bidder for the bank - to come to the rescue with snappy quotes and some personality.

Brown, who turns 57 next month, pulled out stock phrases for the trip on "financial stability," "institutional reform" and "preventing contagion," as he defended the government's position on the bank.

Fresh donations row

A senior minister faced accusations yesterday he had accepted illegal political donations, the latest funding row to hit Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government.

The Sunday Mirror newspaper said a donor channelled £3,334 (Dh24,228) to Health Secretary Alan Johnson through a proxy, which is banned under political funding rules brought in by the ruling Labour Party to prevent sleaze.

The Johnson row is the third party funding dispute to hit Brown's government since he took office in June last year, pledging a fresh start after a Labour funding scandal that overshadowed Tony Blair's final months in office.

Johnson denied any wrongdoing, saying there had been no reason to believe the money had come from a third party and his team had consulted with the electoral commission to make sure all donations were properly disclosed.