What Gordon Brown did next...

By Jonathan Isaby

The Guardian website carries news this afternoon of Gordon Brown's intentions for the immediate future.

He has set up an "Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown" to co-ordinate his work, signed up with Washington Speeches Bureau "in order to fund the salaries of his staff" and acquired three new roles:

• Convenor of the Global Campaign for Education working with Queen Rania of Jordan
• Working on a new programme to bring the internet to Africa
• Joining the board of Tim Berners Lee's World Wide Web Foundation

A statement from a spokesman for the former Prime Minister explained:

"Each of these positions are pro bono and Mr Brown will not accept any remuneration. He will continue to write on global issues, as he has been doing recently with articles on the desperate plight of those in Pakistan and Niger.

"To facilitate their ongoing public policy work, the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown has been set up to employ a number of staff to work on the projects they are committed to. Gordon and Sarah have always made clear they are determined to continue to make their contribution to public life and these latest initiatives are a sign of Gordon's priorities for the future."

He does of course remain MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath - although he has not spoken in the chamber or asked a question since the general election.

There's no sign of a website for his new Office yet, but I note that the domain names gordonandsarahbrown.org.uk, gordonandsarahbrown.com and gordonandsarahbrown.co.uk were all registered just last Friday - although gordonandsarahbrown.org would still appear to be available...