Order, Oh-oh-order

Brilliant news at the factory this week. I passed my politics exam with flying colours ... meaning this weeks exam and the December Depression exam.

Now there is a LOT of unused knowledge occupying my head... this weeks showdown was quite easy and in no way required the intense preparation that I put in it (so i'm glad I didn't put even more work in).

I so dived into the whole British Party System topic that I ended up going to bed @ 4am 3 nights in a row, because I couldn't stop reading about Tony, Gordon and Co. ... and I even dreamt about Gordon. Not in a naughty way though ... which actually at that point wouldn't have surprised me at all.

Now, as I couldn't really share my detailed knowledge during the exam, I will do it here. As I already did a fun facts post on James "Gordon" Brown some time back at the old factory, please bear with me, if not all of the info is new to you.

11 Things I Would Have Loved To Share At The Exam

1) Gordon was part of a special school experiment, which enabled him to finish school 2 years early and he enrolled at uni at just 16. (Damn he really IS intelligent!) Anyway, he didn't like that whole thing, saying it was too much too soon.

2) Being just 16 and having just enrolled at uni, he was having problems with his eyes because he repeatedly got kicked in the head while playing rugby. He had to lie in a darkened room for weeks at a time... this dark period in his so young life apparently made him so determined.

3) While he was treated for his eye in the hospital, every night the patients got a free drink … NHS!

4) He not just became Rector at Edinburgh University while he was still a student there, no, he swept to power with a campaign boosted by three mini-skirted fans, The Brown Sugars, who accompanied him to photo opportunities in "Gordon for me" T-shirts. (I know I would have...)

5) "He would hold his tutorials in his flat over a couple of cans of beer. He held all sorts of parties. He had loads of friends from all different backgrounds. People were diving into bedrooms and smoking joints. He never indulged, but there was nothing disapproving about him either."

6) He and Tony Blair met in the 80ies when they shared a tiny office with no window.

7) In 1994 they did a deal about the leadership. If Gordon supported Tony, Tony would let him have a great deal of control over home politics and step down soon-ish to let Gordon take-over as Prime Minister.

8) Blair allies would complain that the chancellor would keep the details of his Budgets from Mr Blair until the last possible moment and "go missing" when the prime minister needed his public support. (hihi...)

9) Matthew Taylor, Mr Blair's former policy chief, said staff felt like "children in a dysfunctional relationship where mum and dad are too busy arguing to ever talk to the kids". Whenever things got out of hand, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott would host a reconciliation dinner with Blair and Brown at his grace and favour apartment at Admiralty Arch.

10) Gordon's reluctance to talk about his private life even sparked rumours he was gay. Now he is married with children.

11) And if you wanna know how it all REALLY happened, go have a look at TONY! The Blair Musical ...

While doing all my research, I re-discovered the fun that is "Prime Minister's Questions". Channelling my inner Simon Amstell I have to say "This is not a football match!"



... but, in a waaayyyy, it is!

And I like the referee: Mr. Speaker! The way he tries to keep control: "Order, Oh-oh-order!"

and it gets worse for the Prime Minister:



now there I was channelling my inner Sebastian...



btw: apparently the Prime Minister was based on Tony Blair AND Sebastian on Peter Mandelson ...