"A Britain of mutual obligation." This phrase from Gordon Brown's first speech as leader of the British Labour Party yesterday encapsulates many of his characteristic themes. He concentrated on equal and accessible educational and health services, British citizenship, economic stability and good management, environmental awareness, and the need for international involvement and competitiveness in a global age.
Rights must be linked to obligations in delivering these values, he insisted. In return for that commitment, public services should be made more open to individual needs.
As a newcomer Mr Brown sensibly gave priority to such political substance. But his speech was sufficiently well larded with promises - on schooling, university access, maternity leave, the minimum wage, house building, policing, constitutional and climate change - to serve as the opening shot in a campaign should he choose to call an election this autumn after the Conservatives have their conference. He needed to establish clearly his vision for the country, rather than see this week consumed by a frenzy of speculation about inter-party tactics. His speech offers a distinctive social democratic vision of Britain's future, tempered by economic realism about how it can and should be funded and realised.
He has done nothing to dispel the election speculation, however. Drawing on his skilful assumption of office over the summer and his projection of a more grounded style than Tony Blair, he is buoyed by favourable polls and relishes the Conservatives' evident discomfiture. In deciding whether to call an election he must balance the likelihood of increasing Labour's comfortable 2005 majority for another five years against the possibility of losing and thus becoming one of the shortest serving prime ministers on record. Mr Brown's natural caution combined with his determination to deliver on good governance makes it unlikely he will take this risk. But the opportunity to defeat the younger Conservative leader David Cameron before he firmly establishes himself may be too tempting to pass up.
Brown's Britain is, after a mere three months, sufficiently different from Blair's that it is not surprising he should have received such a notable poll bounce. As he said yesterday, experiences shape the way we see the world. In that light he has brought a steady competence to bear in handling a changing relationship with the Bush administration on Iraq, together with capable management of the summer flooding, several terrorist incidents, the foot-and-mouth outbreaks and the Northern Rock banking issue. This broadens his appeal beyond his economic competence so well proven over 10 years as chancellor. His candid admission yesterday that he may be too serious is offset by his insistence that some things are worth fighting for and his ability to spell them out clearly. He now faces a lonely choice on whether to put his new image to the bruising test of a general election campaign.