Paul Dixon’s PR blog

As I waded through my regular news portals covering the latest flood reports from the UK – and China – it was interesting to see how the respective leaders from both countries are getting their feet wet and supporting the relief efforts. Even more interesting is their attire.

First there is Gordon Brown – whether it’s riding the storm in PMQ’s;

 Serving aces past 13 year-old secondary school students;

 Or indeed visiting flooded homes in Gloucestershire;

the customary tailored dark suit, white shirt and polished black shoes seems to be the only way for Gordon to step outside onto Downing Street’s July puddles  (to give him some credit, a pink tie was once bravely worn as opposed to his favoured blue). A search on Google images reveals just two occasions when he was clad in anything else: a picture with his wife, Sarah, and their newly born daughter; and a visit to British troops serving in Iraq – I assume too hot even for his all-purpose-all-weather suit in the midday desert heat. A white shirt, top-button open, was his attire on both those occasions by the way.

Who is the President of China? Yes, that’s right. Hu is the President of China. And it is obvious that Mr Hu – and his red army of advisors – are more aware than Gordon of conveying the right image, and thus message, to the people of the now very wet land. I also assume and hope his sense of humour is better than mine.

We know George Bush likes a wisecrack or two, and often makes a few gaffes to the delight of the hovering media – but he knows, like Hu, that with the top-job comes one half of a spacey wardrobe that should be utilised in front of the lens. There was no tailored suit and American flag pin badge when he visited a flooded Pennsylvania in 2004.

If there is one message I want to say to the Browns at Number 10 it has to be this: Time to start sharing the coat hangers Sarah.