Gordon Brown this afternoon beat a path to ‘insulted voter’ Gillian Duffy’s home in Rochdale as part of a hastily cobbled together damage limitation exercise after this morning’s unfortunate incident with a microphone. Needless to say, it was a debacle. We understand Brown phoned her but that was not enough – he had to go and visit. Cue the Prime Minister emerging from her home to a media scrum, Mrs Duffy’s front door slamming shut behind him – presumably under the steam of the lady herself. If Gordon had hoped for a late love-in with Gillian, he would have been left bitterly broken hearted.
There in the background of all the shots was Ian Bundred, Brown’s chief spokesperson. He chose a strange moment for his 15 minutes of fame and herein lies one of the problems – Brown simply does not have the quality of people around him that Blair enjoyed during his time as Prime Minister. Bundred should have got himself well out of shot. After the few ‘quiet words’ Brown inevitably would have had with him today, I suspect an appropriate distance to be a continent or two.
It was left to Lord Mandelson to try to direct early proceedings, getting on TV as soon as he possibly could in order to prevent further problems. He said that the Prime Minister’s comments were ‘unjustified’ thus preventing Brown’s entourage from getting into another pickle trying to justify them.
In the last few minutes, Gordon Brown has written to everyone who has ever been on Labour’s email lists with an apology, saying: ‘The worst thing about today is the hurt I caused to Mrs Duffy, the kind of person I came into politics to serve. It is those people I will have in my mind as I look ahead to the rest of the campaign. You will have seen me in one context on the TV today. I hope tomorrow you see once more someone not just proud to be your leader, but also someone who understands the economic challenges we face, how to meet them, and how that improves the lives of ordinary families all around Britain’.
It’s unlikely to work. This has been a defining day for Brown and comes just 24 hours before he hoped to set the agenda during the third and final TV debate which will centre on the economy. Whether the Opposition leaders dignify themselves with this or not tomorrow, the spectacle of a pensioner voter being accidentally humiliated live on TV by their Prime Minister is likely to have a lasting impact on an unforgiving public.
