Brown has been a little depressed recently, and the reason is obvious.
Blair should have given up the position of Labour Party leader to him, and in fact, he mentioned this matter more than once between last year and the beginning of this year.
But in the end, after the general election date was announced, it was still Blair who competed for the position of prime minister as the leader of the Labour Party.
It can be said that his mood at this time is also somewhat complicated. He does not want to see Blair win on behalf of the Labour Party and become the leader of the Labour Party for the third consecutive term as prime minister, but he also does not want the Labour Party to lose to the aggressive Conservative Party. After all, if the Labour Party wins, he still has the possibility of succeeding Blair as prime minister. What if...
Therefore, although now is a critical period for all parties to build momentum and publicity for the election, he still does not put too much energy on this. Today, he was invited to Dream Island and wanted to relax after work.
"The Prime Minister may think that his approval rating is recovering with the end of the war, but it is hard to say whether this is the case."
After entering the room specially reserved for them by Barron with Brown, he picked up a glass of whiskey, poured it for the Labour Party's second-in-command, clinked glasses with him, and spoke in a relaxed manner.
"It's hard to say. This time the Conservatives are coming on strong, and their support rate has surpassed ours in many places..."
Although Brown's words were like this, they did not express excessive pessimism. Perhaps he himself could not tell which he preferred between seeing Blair defeated or the Labour Party winning.
He took a sip of wine, looked at Barron, and said,
"And your Highness, your media have been very supportive of the Conservative Party for some time..."
"Ha ha..."
Barron was not embarrassed at all by Brown's words. He said calmly,
"That's because it's someone else who represents the Labour Party. If it were you, believe me, Mr. Brown, you would get unstinting support."
After drinking the whiskey in the glass in one gulp, Barron said jokingly,
"And I don't think the Conservative Party will pose too much of a threat to you this time, because everyone knows that their leader graduated from Cambridge University..."
Hearing his words, Brown couldn't help laughing.
A classic British political textbook once summarized the characteristics of a prime minister: white, male, over 40 years old, Eton College and Oxford University - this stereotype has not been completely broken to this day. The only special one is Margaret Thatcher, who is a woman, but also graduated from Oxford University...
This also coincides with the fact that Britain has never advocated the isolated island sentiment of the "British Dream". There are only very realistic classes and backgrounds here.
It can be said that this common rule has almost become an iron rule, especially after World War II.
So is Cambridge University, another famous British university that is often mentioned alongside Oxford, so invisible?
In fact, there is also a "Cambridge Gang" in British politics, but most of them are now retired in the House of Lords...
The Cambridge Gang was active in the 1980s and 1990s and played a huge role in the eras of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Unfortunately, these two Conservative prime ministers also graduated from Oxford.
The current Conservative Party leader Howard, who is now competing with Blair for the position of Prime Minister, graduated from Cambridge University. He was also the last Conservative Party leader to graduate from Cambridge University from Barron's previous life until his rebirth.
Barron graduated from the University of London and Brown graduated from the University of Edinburgh...well, the original Edinburgh, so the two of them joked about this matter without any burden.
In fact, although on the surface, the newspapers, TV stations and other media owned by Barron are inclined to the Conservative Party in this election, he is also controlling the intensity of his support.
The most appropriate final result is that the Labour Party of the original time and space wins and Blair is re-elected as prime minister.
In this case, the current Conservative Party leader Howard will be defeated in the election and will be discouraged, and will hand over the position of party leader to Cameron at the end of the year.
Two years later, Blair handed over the position of Prime Minister to Brown...
Well, everyone is happy.
"My friend, the position of Prime Minister will be yours sooner or later. Believe me, you should relax and enjoy the present moment."
Barron patted Brown on the shoulder and spoke in a relaxed tone.
…
The financing of United Energy Group is in progress. At this stage, they will conduct investigations among target investment clients and make choices among issuing new shares, convertible bonds, and a hybrid of the two.
This time, their target customers will mainly be local British capital.
Of course, at this time, Barron would not reveal that the target of United Energy Group's financing this time was Unocal Corporation of the United States, otherwise Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs Group would also be waiting for a good price.
Therefore, this time, United Energy Group's financing came with a smokescreen - United Energy Group began to contact the National Grid Company of Britain, trying to make an offer to acquire their natural gas grid business.
It is estimated that once United Energy Group successfully acquires the natural gas business of the British National Grid and merges it with the natural gas network of the former Northern Gas Company they already own, it will become the largest natural gas transmission network in the UK.
Therefore, this acquisition also seems very likely.
Because United Energy Group owns a 30% stake in Kolo Oil.
At present, Kolo Petroleum Company has not only discovered oil reserves in Block 1 of the Kolo offshore oil field, but also extremely rich natural gas resources.
After the natural gas is extracted, it can be transported directly to the UK, enter their natural gas network, and be transmitted to users in the UK.
These businesses are interrelated, so United Energy Group's acquisition of the natural gas business of National Grid of the United Kingdom did not arouse anyone's suspicion.
In fact, this acquisition of the natural gas business of the British National Grid is not just a smokescreen.
Ten years later in the original time and space, Li Chaoren's Cheung Kong Infrastructure acquired a 51% stake in this business for 11 billion pounds.
This time, United Energy Group offered 5 billion pounds for the natural gas business of the British National Grid, and although the two sides will continue to negotiate, their offer will not be increased this time.
If United Energy Group can really acquire the natural gas business of the British National Grid at this price, it will be a pleasant surprise for it.
And if the other party is determined not to sell, then United Energy Group will be able to turn around and participate in the acquisition of Unocal.