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That departure will bring down the curtain on a successful double act. Despite the rancor engendered by their personal rivalry, Blair and Brown, the Lennon and McCartney of politics, had a creative chemistry. As Brown embarks on a solo career, Geldof finds a new, and apt, comparison, remarking: "Brown is the Van Morrison of politics — grumpy but brilliant."
The people who know Brown best doubt that he'll ever metamorphose into the kind of confessional charmer the public would like enough to stand a round of drinks at their local pub. Some of his supporters pray he won't try, perceiving in his rough-diamond personality a much-needed antidote to the mounting public cynicism that has blighted Blair's final years. Morris, for one, hopes for an era of "politics done differently. If Labour has had a failure since 1997, it's that we've let that trust and openness with the public go." Brown himself suggests an end to the culture of endless policy announcements and targets that defined and eventually undermined confidence in Blair's government. "You cannot just pull levers and expect things to happen," he says. "You've got to win public support."
Indeed, Blair's failure to win public support for the war in Iraq proved a disastrous self-inflicted wound. As debate raged in 2003, Westminster watchers detected in Brown's unusually low profile a subtle criticism of government policy, but he told Time that he had backed sending troops to Iraq and will not distance himself from that decision today. Cameron will highlight that complicity and some voters will never forgive Labour. Yet it may still be in the rubble of that war that Brown finds one positive way to distinguish his leadership from Blair's.
The Chancellor is a fan of America. He likes its dynamism. For many years it has been his holiday destination of choice. He enthusiastically offers a lengthy and erudite lecture on the common values of liberty and opportunity that bind it to Britain. But asked about a recent private meeting with President Bush, his responses are determinedly evasive. When finally he cooks up an opinion, it's served lukewarm. "I believe the shared interest that is founded on shared values is a very potent foundation for all relationships in the future," he says.
Back home, such a marked shift in tone will play well. Britons may expect their Prime Minister to be warm and friendly, but Blair's frequent and effusive expressions of amity toward his chum in the White House made many of them feel queasy. On that front, at least, they might welcome a little British reserve from Grumpy Gordon.