 A PM in waiting..? |
It's eight in the evening here in New York and I'm sitting in the departure lounge at JFK airport.
I've found a computer... but my body clock is telling me it's 1am, and that I really should be curled up in bed by now.
We flew out to New York with the Chancellor just 24 hours ago - but to be honest it feels as though several days have passed.
Now we are flying back to put together this week's Politics Show.
Gordon Brown spent last weekend in Singapore, flew back, and promptly flew out again to New York.
His destination: the Clinton Global Initiative - the former President's highly impressive attempt to tackle some of the world's greatest problems by enlisting those with the world's deepest pockets.
We have had the sort of access to him that won't last if and when he becomes prime minister - the entourage grows, the controls become greater, the events much more managed.
Not that this has been amateur hour, but it has been cheerfully haphazard with timings and locations changing at a quite dizzying speed.
 We preview the Labour Party conference on the programme too... |
And of course, as part of this, we have had a lengthy sit-down interview. It's fascinating.
Captive or liberated?
Gordon Brown has never been the easiest man to interview - fears of being accused of being sulky or over ambitious - or both - have made him reticent to engage.
But after the turmoil of recent weeks, culminating in Tony Blair's announcement that he'll be gone by this time next year, two things struck me.
One is that Gordon Brown is still very anxious that he might now be perceived as a plotter, with blood on his hands over the demise of Tony Blair.
The other is that he is acting like a liberated man.
After all if you say to him: "But aren't you behaving like a man who wants to be prime minister?" he can now simply reply: "Yes. And the post will soon be vacant."
Join me on Sunday at noon - the roast can wait.
The Politics Show on Sunday 24 September 2006 at 12:00 BST on BBC One.
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View the Gordon Brown interview here...
