What a contrast to Gordon Brown! The Leveson Inquiry continued today with evidence from former Prime Minister John Major. His comments on the freedom of the press were characterised by balance, fairness and a desire to genuinely contribute to find a solution to press regulation.
John Major stands out since he was the only Conservative Prime Minister not to have enjoyed the support of the right wing press in the UK at the time while he was in office. As time goes by, his time as Prime Minister continues to look better and more dignified as contemporaries would probably have liked to see it.
This may just be a case of nostalgia, yet Major's very considered comments on press regulation and press freedom sounded very different to the vindictive and largely dishonest evidence given by Gordon Brown yesterday. Perhaps there is a link between the need to portrait yourself as a trustworthy and courageous and the lack of the same in real life. If you remember, Brown wrote a book just before he took over from Blair in which he compared himself to Nelson Mandela.
The modesty of John Major favourably contrasts with Brown's hyperbole. Sadly, we don't have politicians of this caliber anymore!
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