THE GOVERNANCE OF BRITAIN

Below - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and United States President Barack Obama. Right - Mr Brown and Russian Prime Minister (erstwhile and perhaps future president) Vladimir Putin.

Back at the beginning of 2007 I wrote a blog entitled "Gordon's Gang and Labour's New Politics of the Playground". News that the Prime Minister - along with former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - may be regarded as a bully by some of his colleagues comes as no surprise.

However, I am surprised that this information should have caused such a furore in the British media. Indeed, I find myself in rare agreement with Mr Prescott's successor as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Ms Harriett Harman, who has pointed out that there are much more important matters at home and abroad.

It is with these important matters that I'd like to deal today, under the umbrella title of "The Governance of Britain", not to be confused with the UK Government's own publication of that name, whose implementation is indeed very confusing.

Now Britain has been described as a "Mini Super Power", although it is unclear who recognises this particular status internationally - I suspect not the United States and China - and whether the title reflects the reality of current geopolitics, or is really a historical aspiration. Certainly Gordon Brown and former Prime Minister Blair, especially, have aspirations to be world leaders on economic, social and environmental issues.

However, it is widely felt in this country that these aspirations and the "Faustian Pacts" which have gone with them have undermined Britain's status in the world rather than enhanced it. This disenchantment has highlighted a wide range of governance issues, not only within government itself but across the public and private corporate sectors.

In short, the British brand has been damaged and the prospect of Lord Bell of Belgravia* and his likes returning to repair it - particularly at a time when the discovery of new oil reserves may re-ignite conflict over the Falkland Islands - is by no means an attractive one. This is precisely why so many people are hoping for a coalition government for national unity after the general election later this year.

*Lord Bell's connections with the Russian oligarch community are well known (see below)