This is the third article in a six-piece symposium on Gordon Brown as intellectual. Other articles include:
John Lloyd on an intellectual in power
Iain McLean on other intellectual prime ministers throughout history
Geoff Mulgan on the American inspiration behind Brown’s thinking
Richard Cockett on the question of Brown’s religious faith
Kamran Nazeer on Brown’s book Courage
Discuss this article at First Drafts, Prospect’s new blog
A prime minister does not have to be a public intellectual, but he should be a private one, in the sense of a cultivated individual who thinks for himself. Any public figure ought to possess what Aquinas, after Aristotle, called the intellectual virtues: prudence, art, wisdom, knowledge and understanding. Gordon Brown talks a lot about prudence. Yet he has rarely practised what he preaches. The House of Commons, almost an intellectual-free zone these days, has been a bad influence. Having renounced his precocious academic career for politics, Brown has preserved the airs of an intellectual aristocrat without the salutary criticism of his peers.
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