When Gillian Duffy got up this morning, the last thing she thought would happen would be to get called a ‘bigot’ by the Prime Minister, leaving her humiliated and upset in front of the nation live on Sky News. Insulting the voters was probably not high on Labour’s grid, either.
But so it came to pass.
‘It was very nice to see you’ Brown said to her as he left for his car. Seconds later, he was broadcast live saying ‘she’s just a sort of a bigoted woman.. ‘. Duffy was not the only one who faced his wrath: ‘I should never have been put in front of her…..who did that…Sue I think’.
Will this play into the hands of those who say he is duplicitous as well as inept? You bet.
‘I am very upset’ said Ms Duffy in the understatement of the year. She had asked ‘what about all these Eastern Europeans?’ during a conversation with the Prime Minister on a number of issues, including the deficit and tuition fees. Speaking afterwards, she said she had been a Labour supporter, adding: ‘he (Brown) was a very good Chancellor, but now the country has gone to pot’. She remains supportive of Tony Blair, however. Perhaps Labour should get him back for a week.
Thirty minutes after the event, the same people who did not tell Brown to take off his microphone promptly forget to tell him that the radio broadcast he was about to start would also be shown on Sky. So viewers saw him visibly react when he heard, for the first time, his comments played back to him and appeared hunched throughout. He apologised for his remark and claimed mea culpa, before saying he regretted the short space of time he had to debate the issues with her. The Party will have to wonder whether a hastily arranged private discussion might have to ensue over the next 24 hours to rectify this.
One Labour candidate we have spoken to since today’s occurrences has gone home this lunchtime after spending the morning campaigning – ‘there’s no point’ he said.
This is by far the biggest gaffe of the campaign – one of the biggest in fact of any campaign. Many of the flawed aspects of Brown’s character which have been speculated upon for years were confirmed – indeed broadcast – in a matter of seconds. And left in the middle of this, an ordinary voter who just thought she would meet the Prime Minister to talk civilly about the problems facing the country. For the Opposition, it’s like an episode of ‘The Thick of It’ but with more laughs. It’s the sort of twist even the writers of that show would have rejected for being just too obvious.
Expect more reaction as the day unfolds.
