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Brown copied speech?

LONDON: It was Gordon Brown’s first speech to a Labour Party conference as Prime Minister and he got a standing ovation when he delivered it on Monday but now it turns out (or so it is alleged) that it was “rehashed” from old speeches of the former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, and other American leaders.

Reason: the man who reportedly helped him write it also advised Mr. Clinton and leading Democratic figures like Al-Gore, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy.

Bob Shrum , one of America’s best-known political “gurus” and speech-writers, is close to Downing Street and helped Tony Blair with his 2005 election strategy, though apparently Mr. Blair wrote his own speeches. Mr. Brown, it appears, left it to Mr. Shrum who had no qualms “borrowing” his own previous phrases.

Here are the similarities as highlighted by The Times on Thursday in a front-page report headed: Gordon Brown and his “rehash” speech.

In his speech Mr. Brown said: “Sometimes people say I am too serious and I fight too hard and maybe that’s true.”

Mr. Al-Gore in his 2000 presidential nomination acceptance speech said: “I know that sometimes people say I’m too serious…”

Mr. Brown said: “This is my pledge to the British people. I will not let you down.” Mr Al-Gore: “I pledge to you tonight. I will work for you everyday and I will never let you down.”

Mr. Brown: “This is the century where our country cannot afford to waste the talents of anyone.” Mr. Clinton in his State of the Union address in 1995: “As we move into this next century, everybody matters, we don’t have a person to waste.”

Mr. Shrum helped fight eight U.S. presidential elections — and on each occasion his client lost. He was not involved in the two elections that Mr. Clinton won, though he helped him write speeches on other occasions.

With elections looming in Britain, Mr. Brown is being warned to avoid what one American strategist was reported as calling the “Shrum curse”.

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