Video clip: Piers Morgan interview with Brown

Irene

Sorry, I can't bring myself to click play!

Nicholas

The Great British Labour Left machinery begins clunking out the carefully contrived propaganda to keep the Tories out of power.

Not just the party, but all their aiders and abetters in the media.

Pure propaganda. "I will never use my family for political ends".

Dungeekin

This is probably the most despicable piece of politicking and electioneering I have ever seen - the cynical use of his grief to engineer a 'sympathy bounce' in the polls.

Words fail me.

dungeekin.blogspot.com/2010/02/words-fail-me.html

D

michael m

It is surely entirely appropriate that the man who tried to smear our armed services with phoney photographs should now be interviewing our phoney Prime Minister

Phil

PM: “Let me take you back to the day before John Smith died, where for all intents and purposes he was absolutely fine. In your head Gordon, if you’re honest, you must have been not just hoping but believing you would be, after John Smith, the next Labour leader.”

GB: “I thought that would be possible and the first person I phoned when I heard John had died was Tony. And I said, ‘Look, Tony, you may not know this but John has died.’ So I said, ‘Look, we’ve got to sort this out', and so we started a conversation.”

Hoist by his own petard methinks.
Smith's just fell of the twig and Gord wants to debate who gets top dog slot.
What a slug.

TrevorsDen

the point of this post being?

please tell ...

Mark

if words fail you now, read this...:

http://www.redragonline.com/2010/02/gordon-vulture-brown-tries-to-jump-into.html

jon dee

Nothing surprising from Brown and his chum Morgan but sad to see the deterioration of ITV.

In2minds

C'mon everyone, at the count of three blub for Britain, one...two...three!

Stonewall

....He was as great as a man can be without morality;...it is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth....
de Tocqueville (1805-1859) foresaw this poor excuse for a man over 150 years ago.

In the name of God, go!

David

Clearly the death of a child is a dreadful experience and everyone will feel sympathy for the Browns.

However, I find this cynical attempt to alter the public's perception of GB using this tragic family event as truly despicable.

Roger Daley

I'm with Irene on this one, I'd rather stick needles in my eyes than watch this despicable interview.

Short the UK

Better than watching the lovefest, phone ITV, ask for Viewer Complaints and make your opinion heard on this propaganda:

020 7157 3000

Alex

Thing is, will the 'swaying voters' in the marginals really be taken in by this cr*%, let alone watch the programme in the first place?

Alun Reynolds

I had to change stations from Radio 4 this morning when they broadcast this. It sounded to me like a political stunt of the very worst kind.

Alex Creel

As she noticed the camera swoop in for her tearful reaction I'm sure I caught a look of shame in Sarah Brown's eye..... and rightly so. If a sleb paraded their woes like this we'd ask - when's the book coming out? In Gordon's case its even more cynical...

Vulture

May I add my own diced carrot to the tidal wave of vomit which this appalling spectacle has induced among Coffee Housers?

He was 'coached' for this by Alistair 'psychologically flawed' Campbell ( Well, it takes one to know one). How many sessions d'you think they needed before Gordon got the required emoting abt his dead child quite right?

The only important question is whether the great British public shares our outrage..or whether they 'feel sorry' for Bruin - so 'sorry' that they give him their votes.

Willie de Peepul

@Irene

Yup, couldn't agree more!

My mind's made up; don't confuse me with the facts. (or are they facts?)

David Ossitt

Jeremy Clarkson has made a habit of giving Piers Morgan a punch in the face at every opportunity; after this sickeningly, sycophantic, toe curling, labour love-fest, would it not be a good idea for Jeremy now franchise out this habit?

Piers Morgan is a loathsome, self opinionated, attention seeking plonker, who has a permanent expression of arrogant superiority on his podgy face, and it should be the duty of all Englishmen to wipe it off.

AndyinBrum

Just another reason not to watch the crime against culture that is ITV

Lucy Jones

Wonder if this emetic drivel is a pointer towards an early election?
"Cor-what-a-lovely-family-bloke-that-Gordon-is" interview broadcast at the beginning of the two-week recess.
Budget date still not announced.
Sarah Brown "promoting her charity" on Mumsnet last night.
Senior politicians "letting it slip" that the election will be on May 6th (accidently-on-purpose?)

Willie de Peepul

Long ago our TV remote control gained a "Brown button".

On most other remote controls it's marked by a loudspeaker with a cross through it.

Chris lancashire

Sickmaking.

david morris

I'm with you Irene.

I'm sure Nicholas is right. There must be a clip of Gordo pontificating (and drawing one of his dividing lines) about not ever bringing his family into the political arena.
Find it & publish !

The worst element of all this is Campbell et al
treating the electorate as if they are morons.
!

Chuck Unsworth

Nauseating hypocrites - both Brown and his pal Morgan. The carefully edited angles showing Brown's tears, his wife's 'anguish' etc. I'll bet post-production were having a field day. Utterly stomach-churning and disgusting. There should be a health warning broadcast prior to transmission.

I cannot believe that this nation has sunk so low as to view this carefully orchestrated 'interview' with anything but the deepest suspicion and contempt. Does Brown (and that appendage of a 'wife') really think this works? What about those poor bastards being blown away daily in Afghanistan - and their grieving wives, children, kith and kin? At least their families bear their losses with dignity and in private, without turning them into some sort of political spectacle and grief-fest.

Ghastly, truly ghastly. The sooner this gutless, self-obsessed, scumbag is turfed out the better. He has ruined this nation, destroyed lives and bankrupted the Exchequer. He has single-handedly caused untold damage to society. Roll on the election. Just bring it on.

toni

David
'public's perception' is right. We know only what the media tell us, and blogs like this one which covers those who have an interest in politics.
Those who don’t, and enjoy programmes like Jonathon Ross for example, can be more dispassionate, and will judge him for good or ill, from what he actually says and how he behaves during the interview.
Isn't it reasonable to see and hear from the man himself?

After all in the run up to a GE why shouldn’t we have a glimpse into the real life and thinking of the man who wants to lead us? Allegedly, most of us don’t give a damn about the personal lives of politicians and just wish them to get on with doing the job they’re paid to do, which he does; and it’s hardly like he and his family have been willingly over exposed to the point of tiresomeness is it?

BrianSJ

Is the programme the result of Helen Scott Lidgett?

Ian Walker

I wonder if he cried the same over the sons and daughters in the armed forces that he send to their deaths with scant equipment?

I'm with the other people sniffing out an early election - the polls are about as good as they're ever going to get, and he can't let news of the "double-dip" in the economy dominate the pre-election campaigning.

Plus, by not waiting until the last moment, he can appear "decisive"

george

This is car-crash TV at its very worst.

Brown now looks to have completely jettisoned any last vestiges of dignity or humility for crass political calculation. Nobody denies losing a child is devastating - but to display all this just before a general election? It beggars belief - and is a sign of just how morally bankrupt Brown and Labour have become.

I had to look away when I saw those clips on the news, I was so angry.

Dungeekin

@BrianSJ:

No, I think it's more the result of Largactil.

D

Ivy Eileen

What the hell is going on ? We've been on a "warm-up" for about a week now. Even the Beckhams and Brangelina don't get this amount of before-the-event coverage. Hello magazine have had their thunder well and truly stolen.

Someone has clearly gone to an awful lot of trouble .... which suggests there's a motive - oh, and it ain't genuine.

Paddy

You would think this death occurred last week instead of 8 years ago.

Absolutely cringeworthy. I hope it backfires on him as it is being trailered every 10 mins. on Sky news.

David Ossitt

The other day; we were subjected to, the nauseating spectacle of Alastair Campbell weeping tears of self-pity on the television.

We now are being force fed; the main details, of a much hyped television interview (not yet broadcast) the interviewer, a lightweight d-list celebrity, who’s only claim to fame, is that he is the discredited ex-editor of a labour supporting red-top newspaper, the interviewee, is the present incumbent of that once honourable and respected post of Her Majesties First Minister, we are told that he and his great lump of a wife, were seen to blub copious tears of self-pity.

How low can they stoop?

These days; I too, cry often, it is our habit to dine at 6pm, and we listen to the evening news broadcast, evermore often, we hear of the death of one of our soldiers, our tears are not of self-pity, they are tears shed for these young men cut down in their prime but they are also the tears of anger at the gross ineptitude of our lacklustre First Minister Gordon Brown.

Pramston

Though I dismiss all other thought to concentrate on the singular effort and bend every emotional sinew to the task I find it beyond my frail faculties to conjure the contempt this man deserves to be held in.

Boudicca

I won't be watching. This is cynical electioneering, using the death of a child to try and make Brown seem human.

We all know he's a dysfunctional android.

Craig Strachan

I see only quiet dignity and genuine emotion in Brown in this particular clip.

Losing a child is an experience Brown and Cameron have in common. Both conducted themselves with considerable dignity in the face of such tragedy, and I see no political dimension here whatsoever.

JONNY

Seems the more he blubs the more she loves him.

Nicholas

Short the UK. Done. Thanks for the number. Hope everyone rings and complains.

Dinosaur

I'm thinking of offering to put up posters of Gurning Gordon for the election, he's the best hope we've got (sorry Dave, just joking...)

paul holdstock

last time i looked, all the governments in the middle east were either muslim or jewish.
therefore the likelihood of any of them sending a roasted pig to Brown,
unless as an insult, surely must be zero.
i suspect that all gifts to ministers from foreign governments, retained, or not, are recorded. a thorough examination of the records will, i suspect, that even on this nauseating attempt to con the voters of this country that he is indeed a 'decent chap', and therefore worthy of our votes,
show Brown to be a compulsive liar.
not withstanding the fact that these self-same middle eastern nations may find even the suggestion of such a gift to be a serious insult, to them.
how ironic it will be, if this lie, from his own lips, to the masses,
finally consigns his political career, and party, to the sewers, where they belong.

Percy

Why did he have to have a live audiance?

Slim Jim

Willie @ 2:07 - We've got a 'Brown button' too, it's called a brick. Unfortunately, the good wife got fed up with replacing the telly, she just throws it at my head when he appears...it works though!

Martyn Rowe

Sarah Brown reminds me of Yoko Ono.

Nicholas

Craig Strachan: " . . and I see no political dimension here whatsoever."

Unlike the Brown cabal.

toni

David Ossit
"The other day; we were subjected to, the nauseating spectacle of Alastair Campbell weeping tears of self-pity on the television"
That’s a blatant lie, there was no “weeping tears”.

“we are told that he and his great lump of a wife, were seen to blub copious tears of self-pity”
Make sure you watch the programme which-hasn’t-been-aired-yet, to check out the copious tears, blubbing and self pity.

“How low can they stoop”?
Evidently not as low as you, with your outright lies and apocryphal hearsay.

Ice Cube

The Government publishes an annual list of gifts received by Ministers valued over £140. The first such list was published in 2003 which included details for 2001-2003. Since then, the lists have been published annually.

The lists should be available online at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/freedom-of-information/released-information/foi-archive-about-us/4042-ministerial-giftsa8cf.html?view=Html but guess what - the link isn;t currently working which is rather convenient.

There are some copies of the reports on the web, for example from 2006-7 detailing gifts to the PM, including those from Arab countries. No sign of a pig that year but the Saudi's did send him some wine :)

Liz Brown

Like Irene am unable to bring myself to click and am getting plenty of exrecise in switching the box off as soon as this excuse for a human being appears on the screens
Why now? This repellent story was in the news at the weekend - did it not attract sufficient interest then that it has been leading the news today?
I do feel sympathy for someone who has lost a child but to come over all mawkish 8 years after the event makes me feel positively ill
Gormless and his PR wifey, Sarah, should be ashamed of themselves

paul holdstock

Ice cube.
thanks for the heads up.
the link being down makes one wonder if the cat is well and truly out of the bag, and this interview will prove to be the most catastrophic disaster, media-wise, of all time.
strange how after denying vehemently any deal between Brown, and Blair, or indeed, any rows between them, he now confirms that they did occur, thereby admitting to his continual lying on the points for more than a decade.
yet somehow, in his twisted world, admitting to being a long term, persistent liar, means we ought to either trust him, or ever believe a single word he, or any of his coterie, say about anything, ever again.

David Ossitt

toni
David Ossit[sic]

"The other day; we were subjected to, the nauseating spectacle of Alastair Campbell weeping tears of self-pity on the television"

That’s a blatant lie, there was no “weeping tears”.

You are a silly girl; not a blatant lie, merely stating what had been reported.

“we are told that he and his great lump of a wife, were seen to blub copious tears of self-pity”
Make sure you watch the programme which-hasn’t-been-aired-yet, to check out the copious tears, blubbing and self pity.”

You are at it again; I wrote we “are told” and that is just what is being reported, have you some insider knowledge that gives a different story.

Nathaniel Blanchard

This interview will almost certainly have a positive effect on the Labour election campaign. Regardless of what people are saying here and all over the blogosphere. We aren't the average person in the street. The interview isn't designed to win us over. I foresee a 2, maybe 3 point increase for Labour in the aftermath of this broadcast. And who knows what might happen from there.

From the top of the Labour party down to its grassroots, all supporters will start to believe that they can increasingly improve in the polls, and will see the once dim and distant glow of election victory grow brighter and larger as the coming weeks go by. It's been my opinion for several weeks now that Labour wll win the election with a small majority. A poll lead before polling day may not even be needed. This election could closely resemble the 1992 election. Cameron is losing the battle. The tories gave the leadership to the wrong man.

2trueblue

I do not intend to watch it here, or anywhere else. What the hell is it doing on here anyway. If I could be sure when the election is I would go away until the due date. The who;e BBC show and now this lot gives me the creeps.

toni

David Ossit.

You wrote “we were subject to” not “it has been reported that”

“we are told that…” which you have accepted as fact, and unpleasantly and personally commented on, rather than watching the programme which-hasn’t-been-aired-yet, to assess whether “what you were told” is accurate.

I’m sure though that as someone who appears to be a stranger to the truth, you’ll be far too affronted to watch the programme but will again later be commenting on what others have said. Inaccurately.

The amount of panic expressed by the Tory faithful over the screening of this programme is nothing short of hilarious.

Nicholas

Toni you seem to have confused the word "panic" with "disgust".

Game changer, eh? LOL!

Chuck Unsworth

@ Toni

Panic? No.

Disgust, loathing, revulsion, contempt. Yes

Ceridwen

Here's the direct line to ITV complaints Dept.
0844 8814150

Sir Everard Digby

@Toni.

'Amount of panic' ? since when can an emotion be quantified by weight or volume? So this makes your statement an opinion. Please say that's what it is, rather than presenting it as a fact. Where's your evidence?

Dorothy Wilson

On earlier debates on Coffee House I have posted some notes about Brown's personality. As a matter of interest, I have just referred back to one of my sources on this subject. From that it appears that, under extress stress, poeple like Brown will express emotions in an intensive and uncontrolled way.

In this interview perhaps Gordon is revealing more about his current frame of mind than he realised.

toni

D.W...”I have just referred back to one of my sources on this subject. From that it appears that, under extress stress, poeple like Brown will express emotions in an intensive and uncontrolled way”.

This is fascinating stuff Dorothy. One can almost sense the breathless excitement as you divulge this exciting information to us; and do tell, did your sources explain how this intensive and (especially the) uncontrolled behaviour will be physically expressed on the programme?

ROTF crying? Vomiting? Screaming and wailing? Thumb sucking?
What? What? For goodness sake don’t leave us in suspense. This is CH and we demand to know the full facts.

Dorothy Wilson

Toni: My sources are the work of Carl G Jung and the Myers Briggs wife/daughter team.

Of course, their work may not be infallible but it is widely used in commercial organisations to assess the qualities and capabilities of managers and in the military to tease out leadership potential, specifically the way in which individuals will cope with stressful situations.

Of course, as with all psychometric profiling Myers Briggs has to be used with care. However, I have used it in my work and for a number of years and find it extremely helpful in guiding my clients towards a deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.

For your reference Brown's personality is classified as INTJ. That has also been confirmed by someone who is a regular blogger under various names and who seems to have close knowledge of Brown. Indeed Brown constantly displays the characteristics of that reading, as he does in the interview with Morgan and did in his dithering over the election that never was.

Junius

Toni - Game Set and Match to Dorothy - Now go and play with the children.

Dorothy Wilson

Junius: Thanks!

toni

DW. I wouldn't want you to think that I disregarded your comment or the round of applause that followed it, but this is the second response, the first one I submitted after lunch...still, comments can get delayed at times...

their work *may not be infallible*

as with all psychometric profiling (it) has to be *used with care*

Do I take it that you have personally carefully guided GB towards a deeper understanding of his strengths and weaknesses? He is a client?

Or would it be more accurate to suggest that on the *strength* of watching some appearances on TV, and with the assistance of *confirmation* by someone who is a *regular blogger* under *various names* and who *seems* to have close knowledge of Brown you have made some sort of judgement?

Well, what can I say? Obviously, not that I bow to your superior knowledge.

Didn’t I hear recently something about psychometric profiling being de-valued due to it being unreliable….?

Dorothy Wilson

Toni: Don't be silly. As Junius says you should go and play with the children - and stop relying on Diana-style emotions rather than rationality.

The regular blogger I referred was, I suspect, Dolly Draper. As you know he trained as a psychotherapist and worked closely with Brown's team. He started the debate about Brown's "personality type".

Yes, there has been a long argument about psychometric profiling. However, used with care it can be an extremely useful tool.

No, Brown is not a client and I wouldn't want him to be. I only work with people for whom I have a degree of respect. However, his behaviour ties in with what my experience - and a great deal of studying - suggests about his personality.

If you are interested you could try reading Jung's Psychological Types. You might also like to refer to a book called The Successful Self by the Australian psychologist, Dorothy Rowe. Her thoughts on introversion are particularly interesting.

Brown is extremely introverted and as such will operate on the basis of using everything he encounters to confirm what is in his head. He will also attack anyone who challenges that [hence his attitude in PMQs].

Additonally, Brown's behaviour in the context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs suggests someone who is extremely ego driven.

Put all those together and you see someone whose psyche is, at the very least, somewhat damaged.

toni

The regular blogger I referred was,* I suspect*, Dolly Draper

Yes, there has been a long argument about psychometric profiling

So basically, when I challenge your loose and unreliable theories and your *suspect* back up, you retaliate by attacking my *alleged* Diana style emotion, and echo an asinine comment by another poster. Hmmm.

Dorothy Wilson

Toni: Do grow up and join the real world! There is considerably evidence from people who have worked with Brown, not least stories of his behaviour towards junior staff, that points towards his flawed personality. With anyone with eyes to see it that flawed personality is very evident in his attitude in PMQs. Notice how he behaves like a cornered animal when he perceives someone is attacking him. Then notice how he almost purrs when he feels someone is praising him.

Please remember we are judging someone who is the PM of this country at a time when he has led it into dire economic straits. We are not judging someone who aspires to be a flawed hero in a Mills & Boon romance. Unless, of course, you are Sarah.

toni

“evident in his attitude in PMQs. Notice how he behaves like a cornered animal when he perceives someone is attacking him.”

Like a cornered animal? – really, what a ridiculous analogy, needing to be relegated to the Stupid Attributes folder along with; foxes have *fun* killing chickens.

Also he isn’t *perceiving* someone attacking him, in fact at PMQ’s Cameron *is* attacking him, and his ugly and personal behaviour towards GB is legion, egged on by his party and supporters. What that says about him, and them, I leave you to calculate, but I suppose in DW world it’s acceptable behaviour.

Goodness knows GB at times can defensively flounder and waffle when he’s attacked as would most of us, but compared to the inbred superciliousness of Cameron, he’s a pussy cat puuuuuurr.

I do wonder though how does a vacuous, airbrushed, uturning, chancer, with desperate aspiration and entitlement expectation of being the next Tory PM stand up to scrutiny.
Is there a long commentary pre written already?
Just too luscious and perfect, I bet.

Max Atkinson

Anyone who didn't see the interview can see a short video clip of his revelations about Blair (plus my comments on his 'dirty dozen' confessions), which I've just posted on my blog at http://bit.ly/cBwtns

toni

PS. How weird is it that you imagine Sarah Brown would read your drivel and dignify it, and you, with a response.

Dorothy Wilson

Toni: It is not drivel. The sources I quote are not "unreliable theories". They are tried and tested concepts used around the world by many hundred of thousands of organisations, including the military, to select and train their leaders. They have developed from similar concepts in use since the first World War.

It is fairly obvious from your comments that you have little understanding of the qualities that are required by people who go on to succeed in positions of responsibility and accountablity. It is also fairly obvious that you have no understanding of why Brown does not have those qualities and has not succeed in such a position.

However, further evidence of Brown's personality flaws can be found in the book by Lance Price, Campbell's second in the Labour destructive spin machine. Price describes Brown as obsessed with controlling hour by hour media coverage and prone to temper tantrums, shouting at staff and kicking furniture when a story runs beyond his spinmeisters' control. And more evidence of Brown's failure can be found in today's article in the Telegraph by Jeff Randall. Mr Randall evaluates Brown's record against Brown's own criteria. To say that it is found wanting is something of an understatement.

As for Sarah Brown dignifying my "drivel" - well she "Tweets" doesn't she? And apparently she was behind that nauseating Mills & Boon style interview with Morgan. And surely nobody else could have such a rose coloured view of him as that implied in your posts on here.

And if you think Brown performs well in PMQs you obviously have the same "confirming what is in my head" tendencies as he does. As for your paragraph using words like "air-brushed" and a "sense of entitlement" surely you meant those comments to apply to Brown. After all, he uses make-up and, probably, Botox doesn't he? And his "sense of entitlement" has been there since way before the agreement with Blair over the Labour leadership.

As I've said before, we are judging Brown's record as Chancellor and PM. We are not judging him as a potential character in a Mills & Boon novel.

Now I've better things to do than argue with someone who clearly has such a closed mind.