Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Who first called Gordon Brown "Mr Bean"?


It was, of course, Vince Cable who made the parallel famous on 28 November.

But here is Leo McKinstry writing in the Daily Express on 19 November:
Through his serial incompetence, Brown is fast becoming the political equivalent of Mr Bean. All too many of his appointments have turned out to be mistaken, whether it be the inexperienced Jacqui Smith at the Home Office or the pompous Mark Malloch-Brown at the Foreign Office. 

From the absurdity of employing 10,000 illegal immigrants in the security industry to the ongoing mess of Northern Rock, Brown has allowed Bean-like ineptitude to become the hallmark of his brief reign. As with Mr Bean, Brown is a major social embarrassment to those around him.
Was this the first sighting of the Brown/Bean trope, I wonder?

1 comment:

Majestatic said...

No this was not the first sighting of Gordon Bean. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/6930842.stm.

Brilliant photo at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=473082&in_page_id=1770