London: Former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have a less well-known distinction – their attitude towards mobile phones.
While Blair never had one during his tenure in Number 10, Brown never went without one, reports the Scotsman.
Brown became the first prime minister to get special permission to make mobile calls without first going through the Downing Street switchboard.
They also served as a useful vent for his temper, with reports claiming he once got ‘through three mobile phones in one week by hurling against the wall in anger’.
In 2009, he was twice interrupted by his mobile phone during a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Soon after Blair left office, the former prime minister joked about the ‘novelty’ of having his own mobile phone.
“I sent a text to someone the other day and they rang me back on my new mobile and asked, ‘Who are you?!’,” he said.
ANI
First Published: Monday, January 24, 2011, 13:27