Gordon Brown 'mortified' by his 'bigoted woman' slur

[darkstar]

Gordon Brown 'mortified' by his 'bigoted woman' slur



The moment Gordon Brown was caught on microphone

Gordon Brown has said he is "mortified" after being caught on microphone describing a pensioner he had just spoken to as a "bigoted woman".
Gillian Duffy, 65, had challenged him on issues including immigration.
As he got into his car, he was still wearing a broadcast microphone and was heard to say "that was a disaster".
Mr Brown later went to Mrs Duffy's house in Rochdale to apologise and sent an e-mail to Labour activists to say he "profoundly" regretted his comments.
After spending more than 40 minutes talking to Mrs Duffy, the prime minister said: "If you like, I'm a penitent sinner. Sometimes you say things you don't mean to say, sometimes you say things by mistake and sometimes when you say things you'll want to correct them very quickly.
"I wanted to come here and say to Gillian that I was sorry, I had made a mistake, but also to say I understood the concerns she was bringing to me and I had simply misunderstood some of the words she had used."
'BIGOTED' JIBE COVERAGE



Nick Robinson: 'That was a disaster'
Profile of the woman behind row
Transcripts: All the exchanges
Analysis: Why it matters
Classic gaffes caught on tape
Reaction to 'bigoted' comment
Your views on Brown's comment
In pictures: how it unfolded
Eyewitness: PM's day of horror
Brown's apology to activists

He had already phoned Mrs Duffy to apologise after the tape was played to him during a BBC Radio 2 interview.
After listening to the recording, with his forehead resting on his hand, he said: "I do apologise if I've said anything that has been hurtful."
The comments were made after the conversation with Mrs Duffy which ended with him complimenting her and her family.
As he went to get into his car, Mr Brown told her: "Very nice to meet you, very nice to meet you."
But off camera, and not realising he still had a Sky News microphone pinned to his shirt, he was heard to tell an aide: "That was a disaster - they should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that? It's just ridiculous..."
Asked what she had said, he is heard to reply: "Ugh everything! She's just a sort of bigoted woman that said she used to be Labour. I mean it's just ridiculous. I don't know why Sue brought her up towards me."
'Ordinary people'
Mrs Duffy said after hearing of Mr Brown's comments: "I'm very upset. He's an educated person. Why has he come out with words like that?
"He's supposed to be leading the country and he's calling an ordinary woman who's come up and asked questions that most people would ask him... It's going to be tax, tax, tax for another 20 years to get out of this national debt, and he's calling me a bigot."
Mrs Duffy, a widow who has a daughter and two grandchildren, said she used to work with disabled children for Rochdale council before she retired and earlier told reporters she was a lifelong Labour voter




http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politi...10/8649853.stm

[SiE]

Labour are so screwed. They should have changed their leader a long time ago.

[BertRoot]

Fucking dumb cunt. Watched this at work earlier and was pissing myself.

[bobo06]

There is nothing as bad as that. Riping the back of someone and they scoop you

[flumperino]

Pretty much sealed his fate here; his colleagues will be cussing him (out of earshot of any microphones of course).

He won't be leader of the Labour party in 30 days time.

[blaggard]

Every time there's some new "Gordon switches on his rictus grin" footage I expect him to get the boot but it never happens, ONLY losing the election will dislodge him.

[TwoPlAnKs]

If anyone reads the Times, Telegraph, Mail, Express, or Sun I can save you the cash of buying one tomorrow:
"Gordon Brown Makes Gaffe - see more on pages 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18, comment on pages 45,46,47" and the rest of the paper will be about Diana, causes of Cancer, house prices, pictures of Boobs, and the Barcelona game.

I am aware that the newspaper front pages are already available just now so this will sound like a shit prediction, but I genuinely think the only newspaper that will not put this on the front page tomorrow is the Independent. They will probably cover a story about something important.

Frankly I couldn't give a fuck if the man who has guided the economy through 13 years of boom and weathered the first half of a global recession with less impact than other countries is rude to his aid called Sue or can't keep track of whether he is wearing a microphone when he is correctly identifying somebody as a bigot. Those are just not skills the man needs. I'd even support a move to give Sue some extra cash so she can cope with answering his whims whilst he's being rude if he keeps up the good work.

He's still my second choice to Clegg though so I am happy that he's made a complete arse of himself, as long as the voters he loses move in the right direction.

Sky also clearly did this on purpose. If I was the man who was responsible for attaching microphones to people I definitely wouldn't be standing there like a dick whilst a couple of hundred quid worth of radio mic drives away. I'd accept that Gordon could forget (he clearly did) and I'd accept that the techie could forget to ask for it, but no way would they both forget at the same time, that's just too unlikely. He was probably about to speak up when somebody stopped him in order to intentionally bug the car.

I'd also be shocked if there is a single person who could have a debate with somebody who disagreed with them in the middle of the street, who made no effort to listen or accept an alternative point of view, then get into a car and not make a comment about it to their friends. Everyone would have something to say about it, it's human nature. The real headline here should be "Prime Minister is secretly real person"

What a fanny though, I bet he's not managing to sleep well tonight.

Edit: just had a thought, there was apparently talk of a £50k deal for the bigot woman to do an exclusive interview with the sun about it, but it went sour when they realised she didn't have anything interesting to say. Sue on the other hand could be onto a fucking massive winner with this, every paper would snap up a story about how Gordon Brown treats her and what he says about other voters behind their back. Labour better hope they can trust her to the tune of at least £100k, I bet her answering machine light is flashing as we speak.

[GTI]

The woman stated that Britain was being over run by Eastern Europeans and because of that Gordon Brooooooon called her a bigot. I completely and utterly fail to see where the story is here. Had he called her an ugly old bat, that would have been different but she is a bigot.

[StephenDon24]

I thought he made a valid point. He's gone up in my estimation.... altough obviously not enough to vote for him

[Roach-Rampino]

but I genuinely think the only newspaper that will not put this on the front page tomorrow is the Independent. They will probably cover a story about something important.

Spoiler:

http://www.independent.co.uk/

[burner1]

I don't object to his view of this woman, or her view on how she's sees her local area, each to their own. What I think fucked it up for him is instead of sticking to his argument about the positive side of immigration to the country or justifying his 'human' view of her being a bigot, he went and made the mistake of apologising to her and the media about it.

It didn't help when he seemd to look for a scapegoat for it by getting shitty about 'Sue'.

He'd have got more backing if he had actually explained his opinion on immigration and called her a bigot to her face.

His PR skills are about on par with that Iraqi Informatin Minister.

[CzarJunkie]

No fucker tells the truth anymore, when they do they get lambasted for it. Politicians, Footballers, Celebrities, no fucker really wants to be honest with us anymore. When they are, and it's slighty controversial or inflammatory, they are hammered by the media. I want the fucking truth. I want to hear what they say in private, not some sterile shite dreamed up by a PR agency or Spin Doctor.

Gordon Brown went up in my estimation yesterday, he'd have gone up even further if he'd have said it to her face.

Let's have some honesty from Politicians and, more importantly, from the media. The media should be keeping those in the public eye honest, not reducing them to saccharin soundbites because they are shit scared of the media reaction.

[BBK]

Personally I don't think he should have apologised, all the fake posturing in front of the media after he came out of her house made me want to vomit. He said what he said, we KNOW thats his real thoughts, get over it. Its the fakeness that arses me off so much. I had more respect for his honest opinion, which I thought was fair enough. It wouldnt matter what he had said to her, she had her opinion about immigration and no way was she going to budge from it - which in itself is NOT a criticism. Its not like a came out and called her a fucking racist bitch or anything.

I still dont think he should have apologised

[TwoPlAnKs]

Spoiler:

http://www.independent.co.uk/

That's the website, not the paper They usually run some story about something far away on the front page with a special picture or something,it's rare for it to be something normal about the big story of the day. Still no idea if I was right though, probably wasn't.

[TwoPlAnKs]

That's the website, not the paper They usually run some story about something far away on the front page with a special picture or something,it's rare for it to be something normal about the big story of the day. Still no idea if I was right though, probably wasn't.

No Indepedents on the news stand at work today, bastards. I think I know a guy who gets it delivered so I'll ask him what the front page story is. I care more about this than about Gordon and his gaffe now.

[4me2]

It's just a shame he didn't go off on one Chubby Brown style, then they wouldn't have been able to use the coverage.

The reality of Britain, you can twat a gobby brat around the head with a dumb bell and be found not guilty of attempted murder. But Bitch about about a woman and describe her as a bigot then Murdoch's money making machine will treat as it murder in the world's press. Just so happened to be a fucking Sky news microphone and now 15 minutes doesn't go by on Sky news without them milking it .

If I was Brown I'd be suing the c*nts as the microphone should have been turned off as soon as his car door shut. Anything else is just as bad as Murdoch's vulture's tapping phone calls again.

If this had happened in Russia to Putin, then Murdoch's network would have been shut down and all the staff sent to Siberia.

Brown didn't make a blunder ! Murdoch's team of vultures abused their powers !