Tuesday 16th Jan saw Gordon Brown head off to India with a trade delegation that was described as a B-Rated trip.

“Gordon Brown will not do anything in Bangalore and Delhi that the head of British Telecom or his senior bureaucrat could not have achieved at less expense”, wrote M.J.Akbar. 

So what was Gordon up to this week. 

Well, he organised a huge party at the taxpayers expense for the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union, something which if we are to believe the treasury press releases is very close to his heart, but which he failed to attend.

Also on Tuesday, the release of the Inflation figures.  Way beyond the targets that Gordon had set and had previously insisted would be met, bad, bad news indeed for the Treasury and its Chancellor. 

But rather than sit at home and take the flak, he trips off to India on a B rated trip.
 

Q: So, how to beef this up to an A-rated trip?.  

A: Get your favourite News organisation to start some pretty awful rumours about racism in Britain’s top banality show, Big Brother.  Cause a storm in a teacup that will race across the world to India, get the Indian prime minister to make a statement, and hey presto…..attention diverted, job done.

Gordon’s in the news, not for the bad stuff like inflation, but for the worst kind of stuff, blatant spin. 

It has also been suggested that should Gordon have been pre-warned about this morning’s dawn raid on Ruth Turner, being out of the country was …. but that’s just me being cynical again.