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Preaching to the unconvertible [sic]

If Gordon Brown was Prime Minister of a better Britain, then his speech yesterday at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland would have been a historic triumph, writes Kenny Farquharson. If we were all better people – kind, thoughtful, interested, generous – his call for us to inhabit a "single moral universe to bring about change" would have found a ready echo in our most fundamental values and concerns. And it would have confirmed this son of the manse as the man Britain believes is right to run the cou

But, of course, this is not that Britain. We are not that people. And, as a consequence, Gordon Brown is not that Prime Minister. What yesterday's speech confirmed, if anything, was the gulf between the world Brown inhabits and the world where most people live. It's a disheartening conclusion, but if we are to be honest, it's an unavoidable one.

Never before in his time as Prime Minister has Brown surrendered so completely to the pull of the pulpit – urging the country "to honour the dream of the scriptures: that justice will roll like water and righteousness like a mighty stream". The part of him that has always been a preacher has been kept under wraps for most of his time in government. But it was always going to rise to the occasion yesterday in the Assembly Hall, as he became the first Prime Minister to address the Church for 20 years ...

The authentic Gordon Brown was on show yesterday. For that we should be grateful. It's a far more edifying sight than the grinning idiot making guest appearances on American reality television programmes or shifting uncomfortably on the day-glo settees of daytime chatshows.

Full story at Scotland on Sunday.