Tuesday 18 December 2012

Boom To Bust, the journey of Gordon Brown.

Since leaving office in 2010, the former UK prime minister has produced a series of reports on education in developing countries. That have been almost entirely ignored. He had a press conference at the UN that was cancelled because only one person attended. Oops.

Mr Brown has said he will continue to serve as MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. When not jet setting around the world writing reports that gather dust he is ignoring his constituents.

"Ensuring that every child in the world has the opportunity to go to school and to learn is a longstanding passion of mine," said Mr Brown.

"Education breaks the cycle of poverty and unlocks better health and better job prospects." For him certainly.

Mr Brown becomes a UN envoy - supporting UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. He joins the likes of the former US President, Bill Clinton, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Mr Brown has been campaigning in support of the millennium development goal that by 2015 all children should have access to at least a primary school education.

He warned that at present, only 2% of humanitarian aid goes into education.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18836618



As an MP his record is very poor.

Has spoken in 0 debates in the last year — well below average amongst MPs.
Has received answers to 7 written questions in the last year — below average amongst MPs.
Has voted in 14.16% of votes in this Parliament with this affiliation — well below average amongst MP s
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/gordon_brown/kirkcaldy_and_cowdenbeath

He makes a Guardian list of MPs that vote the least in Parliament.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/sep/08/reality-check-britain-s-laziest-mp

"From dispatch box bruiser to Westminster’s silent man. Gordon Brown has not spoken in parliament for more than a year while crisscrossing the globe to maintain an international profile.

The former Labour prime minister has declared 28 overseas trips on the MPs’ register of interests since he last spoke in the Commons on November 30, 2011. They include six visits to New York, where he holds an academic post, six trips to the Middle East and stop-offs in Seoul, Lagos and Mexico City.

Much of the jet-setting is linked to Brown’s humanitarian work, but his hosts have included Arab rulers, Russian banks and the Chinese government."
http://action4equalityscotland.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/moonlighting-mps.html?m=1


Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has registered earnings of more than £900,000 from speeches, academic posts and policy work. However, Mr Brown does not personally gain from any of the money.
It instead goes towards the running costs of the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown, which has donated over £500,000 to charity. Neither Mr Brown or his wife receive any salary, dividends or profits from the office.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2192396/MPs-earning-13-TIMES-salary-taking-second-jobs.html#ixzz2FO3zuWrk

1 comment:

howard thomas said...

"Education breaks the cycle of poverty and unlocks better health and better job prospects."

I'm glad he spotted that one, but what a shame that he did so little in this country to change anything while he had the chance.
The standard of education for many in the UK is simply not good enough and for large numbers of young people to be leaving school with hardly any grasp of the 3 Rs is quite simply disgusting!