Tony Blair and Gordon Brown unite to say 'No'

Namesake 'enemies' united over vote
Sep 26 2004
By Matt Mckenzie, Sunday Sun

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were at each other's throats again yesterday but agreed on one thing . . . they're both voting "No" to the regional assembly.

The pair - namesakes of the Prime Minister and Chancellor - joined forces to declare their opposition to a government for the North.

Another "No" voter, John Prescott, who shares a name with the minister behind the assembly, had planned to attend but couldn't. There was no suggestion that his Two Jags had broken down . . . or that he had been nicked for double parking!

Tony Blair, 53, of Durham, said: "The proposed assembly will have absolutely no powers and will be another talking shop and a huge waste of money."
Mr Blair, a businessman who runs Pasta UK, in Peterlee, County Durham, attended Bow School, in Durham around the same time as the future PM was round the corner at the city's Chorister school.
He said: "Business will turn this place around, not politicians."

Solicitor Gordon Brown, 50, of Gateshead, said: "I asked the Chancellor to open my new office in 1990 but, unfortunately, he declined.
"As for the assembly, it will do nothing and cost a lot. A better idea for the region would be for a North East plc, where everyone is a shareholder.
"We should buy up the capital of this region - the Metro Centre, the bridges - so that all the money spent here stays in the region.
"The assembly is just going to be another Labour talking shop and, after seven years in Government, what have they done for us?"