Blame the secretary

Dec 13th 2007 | BRUSSELS
From The Economist print edition

Gordon Brown fumbles in Europe

IT DID not take long for the “Macavity” jibes to start, once word spread that an unconvincing diary clash would prevent Gordon Brown, Britain’s prime minister, from attending a ceremony in Lisbon to sign the European Union’s controversial reform treaty. When it subsequently emerged that Mr Brown would fly to Lisbon on Thursday December 13th anyway, to sign the treaty discreetly after the main ceremony had finished, the jokes gave way to head-shaking disbelief in several capitals.
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