Back not forward: Brown's unapologetic apologetics

Here's an article by Seumas Milne in Le Monde diplomatique. aimed, possibly, at those who are naive enough to believe that Gordon Brown would make a significant difference to Blair.

BARELY a generation after the ignominious end of the British empire, there is now a quiet but concerted drive to rehabilitate it, by influential newspapers, conservative academics, and at the highest level of govern­ment. Just how successful this campaign has already been was demonstrated in January when Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer and Tony Blair’s heir apparent, declared in east Africa that "the days of Britain having to apologise for its colonial history are over" (1). His remark, pointedly made to the Daily Mail - which is leading the rehabilitation chorus - in the run-up to May’s general election, was clearly no heat-induced gaffe.

Now read on....