There are two areas of policy in which Gordon Brown has shown little sign of interest during Labour’s years in power. The first is home affairs; the second is foreign affairs. Even though, as Chancellor, Brown has always been at the heart of policymaking on health, transport and education, he has rarely engaged with the ideas being grappled with at the Home Office or the Foreign Office, except to decide about funding particular projects. Even when paying for a boost in numbers for MI5 or for one of Tony Blair’s foreign adventures, he has seemed philosophically indifferent or detached.
Nowhere is this more striking than in the interlocking areas of national security and social cohesion, especially the tortuously complex issue of Muslim extremism. At a recent high-profile conference – Islam and Muslims in the World Today – which brought together theologians, academics and writers from around the globe, time and time again I heard the question: “But what does Gordon think?” The point is that no one really knows. I put it to one cabinet minister in attendance and the response was: “I don’t know. You tell me.”
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