{"text":[[{"start":7.8,"text":"Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Gordon Brown as his “special envoy on global finance” as the struggling premier attempts to bring more experience and economic heft to his misfiring Number 10 operation."}],[{"start":20.65,"text":"Brown, Labour chancellor from 1997-2007 and prime minister from 2007-2010, has been asked to find ways to use “international finance partnerships” to boost defence spending and help prepare next year’s UK presidency of the G20, Starmer announced on Saturday."}],[{"start":39.2,"text":"The prime minister, whose Labour Party lost more than 1,000 seats in local elections on Friday, has been accused of lacking depth and experience in Number 10. The hiring of the 75-year-old Brown is intended to show his fraught party that he is determined to get a grip."}],[{"start":55.050000000000004,"text":"Separately, Starmer announced on Saturday that Baroness Harriet Harman, former deputy Labour leader, would be his new adviser on women and girls, with a remit to tackle “structural misogyny”."}],[{"start":67,"text":"Downing Street showcased the two appointments in a video. Some Labour MPs were bemused, viewing the move as a curiously inadequate and backward-looking response to the electoral disaster. One Starmer ally responded to the Brown appointment with a “head in hands” emoji. "}],[{"start":83.2,"text":"Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, told the BBC: “I have enormous respect for both Gordon and Harriet, but I would have had even more respect for them if they had declined the offer of, quite frankly, non-jobs and told the prime minister that it’s time for a change.” "}],[{"start":101.6,"text":"Barker, along with a growing number of Labour MPs, wants Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure. "}],[{"start":108.05,"text":"Nigel Farage, Reform UK leader, said: “An unpopular prime minister who lost a general election is now seen by Starmer as being the saviour. Labour are doomed.”"}],[{"start":119.35,"text":"Starmer is increasingly turning to the New Labour era in the search for political salvation and has relied heavily on his national security adviser Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff."}],[{"start":131.54999999999998,"text":"Alan Milburn, another veteran of the New Labour government, is already advising Starmer on the problem of getting young people into jobs, education or training. The appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson, a New Labour grandee, as Britain’s US ambassador was less successful."}],[{"start":147.95,"text":"The arrival of Brown and Harman will be welcomed by some on the “soft left” of the Labour Party, which has been discussing in recent weeks how Starmer might be replaced, possibly by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham."}],[{"start":160.25,"text":"Brown was seen to be on the left of Blair and in recent times has pushed Starmer to tack to the left on policies such as scrapping the two-child benefit limit. Starmer initially rejected Brown’s call for the limit to be ditched, before eventually abandoning it."}],[{"start":175.1,"text":"Brown has previously advocated moving some “exceptional” defence spending outside the Treasury’s fiscal rules, an argument also advanced this month by Burnham, but resisted by Chancellor Rachel Reeves."}],[{"start":187.65,"text":"Reeves’ allies insisted on Saturday that the chancellor’s position would not change and that borrowing for defence spending is still borrowing and would destabilise market confidence. “We’ve ruled that out,” said one."}],[{"start":200.1,"text":"Her allies also claimed that Reeves was “happy” with the appointment of Brown and she appeared in the Downing Street video to illustrate her support."}],[{"start":207.54999999999998,"text":"But Labour officials said Starmer wanted Brown to “challenge Treasury orthodoxy” on the funding of defence and to look for innovative solutions, setting up potential clashes with Reeves."}],[{"start":218.6,"text":"Treasury insiders said Brown would especially look at developing multilateral funding mechanisms, many of which are being discussed at a European level."}],[{"start":228.29999999999998,"text":"In March the UK, Netherlands and Finland agreed to fund joint defence procurement through a new multilateral mechanism, with a mix of guarantees and paid-in capital from participating countries that could attract private investment by issuing bonds."}],[{"start":243.99999999999997,"text":"Brown’s role in looking at international finance solutions to Britain’s defence spending problems will address a fundamental problem: Starmer has promised to raise UK spending on defence to 3 per cent of GDP in the next parliament but it is unclear where the money will come from."}],[{"start":261,"text":"Britain is negotiating to join an EU “loans for weapons” programme for Ukraine, but last year failed to join a separate EU defence funding initiative, known as Safe, in a dispute over the membership cost. "}],[{"start":273.7,"text":"“As part of the role he will engage with international leaders and finance institutions as well as private finance partners to establish multilateral finance mechanisms,” Number 10 said of Britain’s longest-serving modern chancellor."}],[{"start":286.9,"text":"Brown will report directly to Starmer and will carry out the work in an unpaid capacity. Starmer last year hired Baroness Minouche Shafik, former Bank of England deputy governor, as an economic adviser, but officials claim she has failed to be a powerful enough counterweight to the Treasury."}],[{"start":305.65,"text":"Brown will also advise Starmer ahead of the UK’s G20 presidency next year. The former premier hosted the last British presidency in 2009, when he was lauded for leading the global response to the financial crisis."}],[{"start":327.15,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778467470_9907.mp3"}