The British PM who was conferred an honorary degree by the Delhi University, interspersed hisfollowing written acceptance speech with off-the-cuff asides and anecdotes. Noting that he was a lecturer at Glasgow University before he "descended into politics", Brown said the varsity stood for qualities like objectivity, rationality, impartiality and honest pursuit of truth.These were all qualities, he said, "that you have to leave behind when you go into politics", causing the large convention hall at the Old Vice Regal Lodge at the University to burst into laughter.
He also narrated an incident involving former US President Ronald Reagan and the then Swedish Premier OlafPalme. "President Reagan did not know what to make of the Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden," he said.Reagan, according to Brown, asked his officials whether Palme was a communist, getting the reply that he was actually "anti-communist"."And to this Mr Reagan said, I don't care what kind of communist he is," Brown said.
The British Prime Minister narrated this story as he wanted to stress on what Palme told Reagan in their meeting in reply to a question from the US President on what he believed in.Palme told Reagan he believed every person should get a chance to realise his or her potential.