Amazing who you meet in Downing Street. I've just conducted an impromptu, unexpected live interview outside No 10 with supermodel Naomi Campbell.

She had been meeting Sarah Brown to discuss their involvement in a charity campaigning to reduce the number of mothers dying in childbirth.

I was midway through a live "two-way", as we call it in the trade, with Kay Burley on Gordon Brown's Downing Street news conference, when Naomi emerged from the door behind me.

Our Sky News cameraman, lens legend Paul "Tricky" Dickie, immediately signalled to me and I turned and asked her to come and talk to me. And, slowly, she came over.

Despite her fierce reputation, Naomi was charming to me. I was, I confess, woefully ignorant about the charity, the White Ribbon Alliance, which Naomi and Sarah are both involved in.

It's the same charity involved in the glittering lunch at Lancaster House addressed by Carla Bruni and Sarah Brown during President Sarkozy's visit to London in March.

During our chat, Naomi told me she also met Gordon Brown during her No 10. She described him as "jolly", which was not how he appeared at his news conference earlier.

Comments

[Elizabeth Davies Cape Town 19 May 2008 09:52:19]

Merv. Beszant Dubai
Many truths in your posting. TV is not Mr Brown's strong point. To me he always appears aloof and cold, I cannot picture him "jolly".
If Brown is Labour's best choice for PM then they should call a general election as they have no vision for their party let alone the country.

[Merv. Beszant, Dubai 18 May 2008 13:38:40]

Mr. Happy,
Irrespective of whether Brown is jolly or not, the voters in the latest elections demonstrated that they certainly don't rate him as a leader, and it's interesting that you feel that it is the Press and Tory supporters that have created the impression that he is not jolly, and would suggest that many Labour followers don't find him too jolly either!
I have no desire whatsoever to meet the P.M., and I certainly don't think that this is a requirement to enable me judge whether he is really jolly, as having watched him operate on numerous occasions on T.V. I am convinced that he is dour, boring, and an extremely poor leader, and I'm sure my view is shared by many people.

[Elizabeth Davies Cape Town 16 May 2008 18:32:22]

Morning Mail
How delusional are you? Mr Brown was "jolly"...who said that Naomi Campbell, excuse me but she often becomes a little confused and is often arrested for her actions. I would not take what she has to say too seriously if I were you.

[The Morning Mail 16 May 2008 16:50:52]

could it be that naomi, not being a politician, gave an objective view of gordon brown. she is, perhaps, one of those who, having met him and spoken to him, made a judgement based on reality and not on the rather tired stereotyped view that the press and those who support the opposition parties, have created for their own amusement.

Posted by: mr happy up north 16 May 2008 13:44:54

Very true mr happy. I understand most people having met the PM describe him as extremely likeable, charismatic and personable. It is the words and dictats of other elements in the right wing press and the shadows of the Tory Party dirty tricks department to try and create a contrary impression.

[Elizabeth Davies Cape Town 16 May 2008 15:12:45]

Mr Happy up North
It appears to me economics is not your strong point. Gold is always a good bet, Brown made sure Britain doesn't have much of that, the cupboard is bare in that department, a very inconvenient truth!

[mr happy up north 16 May 2008 13:44:54]

could it be that naomi, not being a politician, gave an objective view of gordon brown. she is, perhaps, one of those who, having met him and spoken to him, made a judgement based on reality and not on the rather tired stereotyped view that the press and those who support the opposition parties, have created for their own amusement.

[mr happy up north 16 May 2008 13:08:21]

observers often desribe gordon brown as being a bit wooden and spending too much time on the detail, however, there are a number of people on this blog who keep repeating the same old tired claims, even though many of them have been addressed by gordon brown.
to paraphrase Al Gore - it may be an 'inconvenient truth' but this issue about gold is redundant in the sense that a) we cannot do anything about it, now and b) it wasn't wise to have government reserves based just on gold and a portfolio with other options was a safer bet.
i suspect that gordon did not make these decisions alone - he would have received a wide range of advice from financial experts and was convinced by them most probably.
could anyone have predicted the rise in gold to the value it reached recently?
whatever we invest in is a risk in these volatile days, would people be moaning if the price of gold had fallen drastically?
what is done, is done.
we should be looking to the future and the key questions are: how do we persuade OPEC to step up production of oil in the short-term and b)what can be done to increase food production.
i remember the last time we had a major oil crisis in 1974 and that led to a three day week and power cuts.
just like we are exhorted to conserve water during drought conditions, people should be saving petrol. there are too many young and healthy people, some of them obese, who get into their cars to go to the local newsagent a stone's throw from their homes. i would like people to realise that their laziness is also helping the oil price to stay high. if people across the usa and europe made a conscerted effort to reduce their petrol consumption and bought less petrol then the price may well fall.
in the meantime, let us hope that george w. bush and gordon brown can persuade the saudis to step up production and therefore give a boost to our economy.
i blame all those people who campaigned aganst genetically modified foods for helping to cause shortages and famine.
these well fed nimby people have, in my opinion, condemned people to death in developing countries and stopped a development that may have offset food shortages, and have therefore helped to raise the price of food in the developed world.

[Elizabeth Davies Cape Town 16 May 2008 12:26:37]

Morning Mail
If Mr Cameron is the PR salesman, then Mr Brown is the "Sharky secondhand car" salesman. Just look what Brown has tried to palm off on the British public to date, a failed bank, stealth taxes, tax crimes against motorists, no backdated pay for police, teachers on strike...what next for "Brown the salesman".

[alan mcpartland 15 May 2008 21:14:39]

Just as well you're not an airline worker Jon!

[Fred Beeling Manchester 15 May 2008 20:24:33]

I think morning mail meant that he was a "Jolly" bad prime minister.Admit it.Maybe you are to embarrassed to admit it and although thinking it you can't.

[DB10 15 May 2008 18:37:34]

Jon you are a legend, I remember watching Sky News after Boris won the Mayoralty and a rather rude security chap interrupted your live two-way. You swatted him off quite effectively but he kept coming back to pester you. You certainly didn't come into the Lobby to be hassled by jobsworth security men!

[The Morning Mail 15 May 2008 17:19:59]

Gord has a lot to be 'jolly' about. I think this will be the year lightweight PR/Salesman Cammers will be found out.

[John (Northumberland) 15 May 2008 16:53:08]

What on earth has that man got to be jolly about?

Selling Gold at 20 year low?

Destroying the pension system?

The massive overpayments of his bureaucratic tax credit system?

Scrapping the 10p tax band and then the embarrassing climb down?

Mortgaging the future with massively expensive PFI's to rebuild schools and hospitals?

Copying Tory policies on non-doms and IHT one week after they were announced at their Conference?

Going to Iraq to tell the troops they're coming home. During the Tory Conference. Then having to reverse that one too.

Allow talk of an election then bottling out?

Reneging on the manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on the EU Treaty?

40 Billion in the red this year despite 15 years of growth?

Jolly Gordon. A laugh a minute - unless you're having to pay for his incompetence!!!

[T.J. from Ireland 15 May 2008 16:51:44]

Well of course he jolly, in a Tony Hancock'ish type of way.

He probably thinking, Well nobody likes me, but there's not a damn thing they can do about it, for another two years, and that may give him sufficient time, to mend his bridges with Mugabe, and seek his unique type of advice!!

[Stew, Lancashire 15 May 2008 16:49:31]

Labour are all for keeping it in the family (ie Tamsin Dunwoody to take over her mothers roll) perhaps Sarah Brown should stand as Prime Minister, on the grounds of being more popular and voter friendly in the eyes of the electorate and leave 'jolly' Gordon home with the former supermodels. He did seem to cheer up quite a bit when Madame Sarkozy's came to visit.

[Khalid 15 May 2008 16:08:09]

Wow [Dj Tiesto] what a [Titanic] interview!

[JC, Deep South 15 May 2008 15:41:28]

Perhaps Naomi and Gordon compared phone-throwing techniques, or had a 'who can fly into a violent rage the quickest' competition...?

[Liz, Suffolk 15 May 2008 15:41:22]

"Jolly" is probably one of the last words I would use to describe Gordon Brown.

"Dour" springs to mind.