Brown sold off more than half the country’s gold reserves at the bottom of the market.
There's yet the other half to be sold - he'll be around at least until the next major dip.
You can't compare the well oiled, efficient, time tested machinery of the UK State versus an emerging democracy in Poland - it's just not comparable.
On 7 May 1999 the government announced in advance that it would sell 415 tonnes of gold. This public announcement seemed to ensure that the UK would achieve the lowest possible price rather than the highest. The first auction of 25 tonnes in July was $26 per oz lower than the price at the time of the announcement...
Nice One, Britain... BTW, we Yanks are no better. ;)