Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP A blog entitled "Gordon Brown's attendance is tantamount to theft. It's time for him to leave Parliament" (Jan 13) said that Mr Brown "would rather preach to an empty room [at the UN] in New York than do his duty here." We accept that Mr Brown did not speak to an empty room or attempt to do so. At the time of a scheduled press conference, which was subsequently cancelled, Mr Brown had been paying tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi in another meeting which overran.