Ten reasons why this is a catastrophe for Brown and Labour

Ed P

NuLab: Go Fourth (place in the election)!
This should be the 2nd (& hopefully last ever) "Brown Bottom". And when Balls loses his seat, as I fervently hope he will, my cup runneth over!

Graham Booth

He got what was coming to him. Abe Linclon etc etc

Derek Green

The mask comes off this horrible man. We can now accept that the reports of bullying and throwing things were very likely to be true. He must feel very vulnerable to the charge that he completely lost control of immigration.

Bill Rees

As I've said elsewhere, Cameron is now facing an open goal.
Let's just hope he can score a hat-trick.
He mustn't be afraid to stick the boot in.

Nicholas Hallam

It was said, I think by Matthew Parris, that Major won the 1992 election with sympathy votes. There is little chance of that happening to Brown now.

toco

Bully boy Brown has today confirmed what so many people have been thinking that he is duplicitious,aggressive,cowardly and inherently unpleasant-this just seems to ooze from his persona.However, today he has also confirmed he has achieved the status of being the worst leader in Labour history.

Ghengis

In a nutshell Brown is shown to be exactly as we all have suspected.

TrevorsDen

What a nauseating photo ... 'Vote for me I'm a pillock'

anne allan

The biter bit - I wonder if Labour will retain their enthusiasm for 24 hour surveillance?

Torontory

And what made it even worse was that he was grinning from ear to ear when he came out of Mrs Duffy's house. No real remorse there then!

Norman Dee

Somewhere in this world surrounded by 5 star excellence the great slithering, Tony Bliar, is chuckling loudly in a mid atlantic accent.

Jez

THIS IS FUNNY!!!

What a cretin!

Well done Frasier with the above also!

Happy days man. Happy days!

denis cooper

It's bad for Labour, but that doesn't mean that it's good for the Tories.

It certainly should be good for the BNP, and maybe also to some extent for UKIP, and paradoxically and unfortunately I think it could also be good for the Liberal Democrats.

But I doubt that many erstwhile core Labour voters will switch to the Tories over this.

They've long believed that the Tory toffs look down their noses at them, so the discovery that Brown feels the same is not likely to induce them to vote Tory.

On the other hand, that Nick Clegg is young and fresh and apparently a man of the people, and his party has no recent history of grinding the faces of the poor.

Jez

This even better than when Prescott chinned that bumpkin!!!!

Ha Ha Ha! :)))

teledu

In Limo Veritas

Bill Kristol-Balls

Brown dumps on this lady from a great height yet she still won't vote Tory.

Every cloud 'n all that ;)

Kirsty Richards

Brown has put on show what the Labour elite think about their own supporters and the rest of us normal people. Yet somehow the Tories are in a situation where they will not benefit. Cameron and his cabinet are seen as even more elitist than Labour. As another blogger I have read put it 'the Tories don't have anyone, Norman Tebbitesque to connect with these working class people and capitalise on people who should be switching their votes to the Conservatives'. Think of how Thatcher would be handling this or even Blair back in 1997, and you realise how far away Cameron (as well as Brown) is from 'ordinary people'.

Fox in a box

Ed P,

Indeed, this election promises to be the gift that keeps on giving!

Liz Brown

His apology was even worse - he "misunderstood" what she was saying??????Is he deaf as well as blind? We should be told. And naturally, none of this was his fault. As for the smile and the extra heavy make up - good grief

Minnie Ovens

I listed in blank astonishment to the Jeremy Vine show this afternoon whilst he was interviewing Brown.
Nothing was his fault, the economic crisis was all the US' fault and the compounded crisis in the UK had nothing to do with him.
He really believes this. It only reaffirms my belief that he is sociopathic; is a pathological liar and is convinced he knows best which, it is quite obvious, he does not.
This man is very disturbed and needs psychological help (preferably in Broadmoor!).

Fox in a box

Does any one else look at that picture of Brown coming through the door and think, "Here's Johnny!"?

Or is it just me?

eeyore

You can still get 3-1 on whether "bigoted woman" will be mentioned in tomorrow's debate. Go for it!

Osred

Do you still think Neather is b0ll0x?

Do you still think you need great organisation to do what Slybour have done?

You've got him but in essence its a case of 'you're a bigot if you mention immigration' and 'dont dare to question me you prole'

WetherspoonThree

A good day for the journos and other assorted hacks...bad day for Sue Nye who should have arranged for the PM to have a anodyne friendly chit-chat with to nice cuddly Labour supporter rather than that slightly scary woman with the mad eyes. Should have been set up days ago by the local Labour Party people so it does tell us something about the piss poor constintuency organisation that the Labour Party has to put up with. No wonder Mandy looks totally disillusioned.
Anyway I have some sympathy for Brown...the hacks have been waiting days for an incident just like this and he has provided a real gem..

Jan

Fraser, in your Moodmeter Cameron's smiling image at Brown's poor performance is a turn-off and sends a cruel message. Yes, we may be overwhelmed with scadenfraude, but we don't have to crow about it.

Martyn Rowe

The funniest thing about today - and believe me, I think today has been the perfect career-end to my most despised politician - were the response emails sent into the BBC and SKY.

One read, "I've always supported the Conservatives but after today I'll be voting Labour because Brown has showed his human side".

Hahahaha - genius! As were all the other 'supportive' emails.

I had visions of Ali Campbell, Mandy and the rest of the politburo spinning like mad and furiously sending off missives to the bods at the broadcasting houses.

And the best thing is, some 28% of people are probably still stupid enough to believe they were sent by actual members of the public.

Happy days.

Swiss Bob

My bet that Labour will finish third with the LibDems the new opposition is looking more and more likely.

Not my preferred result but the best I can hope for.

Fergus Pickering

Denis Cooper, Nick Clegg, Westminster and Oxford, rich as Croesus, an MEP for five years (which is enough to become a millionaire I am told) - a man of the people???? Which people is that then?

Bob Cat

Point 1 that you raise is the crucial one. This fiasco is unlikely to encourage any more people to turn out on May 6th.

Ken B

"I have never agreed with the lazy elitism that dismisses immigration as an issue, or portrays anyone who has concerns about immigration as a racist."
12th November 2009.
Guess Who?

Woody

Mrs Duffy's niece is a conservative voter (probably the only one in Rochdale)and she could just have a talk with her Auntie Gillian!

oldtimer

It will have the effect of propelling immigration as an issue into even greater prominence. This obviously very bad for Brown.

It is not good for Clegg who wants to grant citizenship to illegals here for over ten years. By the way, just how do you know they have been here for ten years if they are illegals under the radar? BNP are an obvious beneficiary.

It does Cameron no harm and possibly some residual benefit as someone opposed to citizenship for illegals and wanting to cut the inflow down to more manageable proportions.

The bedate will be interesting indeed.

Snowman

It’s exceedingly bad for Brown, he’s a toast whatever the result, it’s bad for Labour, and a gift to the BNP and UKIP, but it’s no good for the whole breed of politicians.

The great unwashed don’t see it as nuanced as the connoisseurs of politics do, they’ve been kicked by politicos of all hues for years, ignored, despised, overtaxed and short changed on services, and they’ve figured that enough’s enough. This may be the beginning of something not seen in this country for generations.

Doesn’t bode well for anyone, really.

LittleEnglander

It just had to happen, didn't it?

Now all that's needed is for Cameron to wipe the floor with him tomorrow on the economy...

"This is no time for a novice!"

"How dare you call me a novice, when you, with all your supposed prudence and experience presided over the worst economic crisis this country has seen in living memory!"

Something like that, anyway. Go for it!

Dennis Churchill

To disagree with the political class means you are a bigot. Once we prided ourselves in living in a free country where we respected others liberty to disagree with us—now we have become so “European” that we seem only a step away from imprisoning dissidents. Of course our dissidents will be UKIP and BNP supporters, just as violence, or the threat of it, is not taken seriously if it is aimed at “Fascists”. Nick Griffin is reported as trying to stop a “Rapper” continuing to broadcast incitements to murder him—anything in the Main Stream Media?

alexsandr

denis cooper April 28th, 2010 5:44pm. They may not vote tory but they will stay at home. That HAS to be reflected in the election.

Publius

Tetelestai!

TGF UKIP

Should be an eleventh Fraser, which none of the media seem to be seizing on. This was not an "ordinary voter" Brown was meeting at random, she had been selected because she was a Labour supporter and, therefore, expected to be "tame."

As Brown says "who put me with that woman?" A set-up that backfired but a set-up it was.

Holly ......

After the initial shock of Bozo's contempt for one of his own,WILL come the anger.
Maybe mrs Duffy will use her vote for another party.
Bozo does not even have the respect for her to call her Mrs Duffy.
She is the precise reason why I vote Tory.
They help people improve their lives,many people my age prospered under the Tories,
many never got mega rich,but they got to buy their homes,had money in their wallets and were not crushed by the state.
The Tories will make a better country for Mrs Duffy's family & grandchildren.
They WILL cap immigration, they WILL jail yobs carrying knives.
Mrs Duffy's anger is felt by many.Including us nasty Tory voters.

Norman Dee

Wetherspoon 3, I think we all know where this missive has come from, we all knew it was "Sues" fault, but you know it's Sue Nye, and the fallback ? lets insult the poor woman again.

JohnPage

When she heard about his insult, she decided not to vote (rather than switch to the Tories).

Don't the Lib Dems poll much better here than your Tories?

Naomi Muse

Splendid, Fraser.

All of these are spot on.

re no 7 - the stage management of these walkabouts shows such incompetence which equates with the incompetence seen all through the government since 1997.

With all the high tech and the minders and aides surrounding Brown, who would have believed that no-one was in charge of de-miking him?

At that point Brown had to be in charge himself.

And his judgement was so awry. Mrs Duffy was happy before he got in the car. He did seem to have answered her questions and yet he thought it was a disaster!

Maybe the disaster was that he had been led to speak one-to-one with someone who had a real question to ask about something he did not want mentioned rather than a sychophant?

That would make sense. He does surround himself with people who will not demur.
A nasty piece of work. I hope he gets his cum-uppance.

Captain Haddocked

Now we know why there were so many aborted plots to remove the Captain from the helm.

And we now know that Labour MPs are a spineless bunch of no-good lemmings for sticking by their man when the rational choice would have been to back ...

Fill in blank or blinky here.

NickP

The Gillians of this world may not switch votes...but by simply not turning out on May 6th (or not posting their votes) they may swing the odds in favour of the Tories in the marginals.

Blanche Hunt

No word yet from dickhead, then? Even Mandelbroon's mole couldn't concoct anything positive from the Dear Leader's poisonous asides.

David

Is it true that he told her he was going to "halve the debt"? If so, that is outrageous and should be brought up by the opposition leaders in the debate tomorrow.

Dorothy Wilson

I was posting on here some months ago that Brown would end up with a breakdown. Today he moved a step closer towards that. If he hadn't landed the country in such a mess you could almost feel sorry for him. But no wonder Sarah follows him around like a nurse looking after her doddering old Dad.

Alfred T Mahan

There may be another, longer term, adverse consequence for Labour. They have a standard tactic of demonizing opponents when they don't want to deal with the underlying issues. This episode will make it that much harder for them to call opponents racists or bigots and thus close down rational debate in future.

Political debate will gain - the Left will lose.

Dave Brubeck

Since 1997 it has been like Narnia. Always Winter but never Christmas. Christmas came today

john miller

No.

There is one reason why this was bad.

Communists rely on censorship. If you can't complain, nothing happens to change the world you live in. The elite are the dreadnaught that crush all before them.

Tony and Gord have had a good run at censoring what we say, both in law and in social mores. You disagree? then you are a racist, facist or bigot. And it's worked for 13 years.

But now, someone who is patently not a bigot, has been smeared by the Prime Minister after he has said "Nice to meet you". So, like a long line of Labour politicians, Mandy, Prescott, Blair, Hain, Blunkett, Abbott, Harman et al, the excuse is, "We are not as you"

Don't look at what we do to judge us listen to what we say, but if that doesn't work, look at what we do not what we say.

Anyway, leaving aside all debate, the vivid impression left to us all is that if Gord had been in Glasgow East he would have got out of the limo and smacked the old lady in the mouth.

HFC

BBC News24 has Harman excusing Brown's behavior as the same as everyone else's - 'we all say things we don't mean and he's said he's sorry.'

Well that's all right then.

Silent Hunter

Only ten? LOL

Ex-Tory voter

@David "Is it true that he told her he was going to "halve the debt"?"

Yes, I heard him say "debt", not deficit. That should be picked up on because he really ought to know the difference.

Marcher Baron

It's interesting to read the Guardianistas' take on this - most of them are screaming that the old lady was a bigot. Talk about disconnect with the people who actually have to deal with the consequences of unlimited immigration on a daily basis! If you dare to express concern that too large an influx, especially one that's unplanned, will put a strain on resources, housing and social services, then clearly you are a bigot.

hadrian

Laughable to see all the P.C. broadcasters now attacking politicians ( not Labour!) for making imigration beyond debate...Er, pot and kettles, I think, Mr Snow!
As for Broon's sullen grumble in the car, though it is both highly revealing and highly offensive, I doubt it'll make much of a dent to his core vote- their devotion to Labour is as bad as that of a battered wife to her tyranical hubby. Still, he HAS been rumbled!

TGF UKIP

David and Ex-Tory voter, dead right "halving the debt in four years" is what he said. Should, but I emphasize should, be an open goal for Dave but don't hold your breath.

The other open goal for Dave should be on a subject Brown will be all out to make mischief on for the Tories tomorrow - Inheritance Tax. Yesterday on the World at One, with the connivance of Martha Kearney, he deliberately lied on the threshold level. A lady questioner had asked him if he intended to maintain the freeze on the current level (£325K) and went on to describe her circumstances as being divorced, aged 57 and with two sons. She pointed out, correctly (assuming her house and savings were more than £325k), that as things stood her sons would be paying IHT. Brown's reply was that unless her estate was over £600k!!! no IHT would be payable. He did throw in the caveat that it would depend on her circumstances but Kearney, unlike with other callers, did not allow the lady to come back to emphasize she was single,instead it was swiftly on to the next caller with a ubiquitous IHT level of £600k left hanging for listeners to absorb.

Incidentally, two of the other callers were self-confessed Labour voters wondering if they should vote tactically - and the BBC says it's impartial.

wsmith

All of the three so called mainstream parties have been guilty of ostracism and slander of lesser mortals in this election.From natzi to slime and racist bigots they have tried to close down the democratic rights of British citizens and all of them are guilty as sin and the people have woken up and know this.The British people deserve a public apology and if Nick,Gord or Dave have any testicular fortitude they should make it on Thursday night.I am doubtful.

Fatbloke on tour

Trevor aka "Fraser" -- the fastest spinner in the Nelson family even though my brother is a DJ.

Good to have you back, I was worried that you were in hiding because you were ashamed of serving up dodgy statistics and didn't have the backbone to own up.

Consequently any news on your homework on peak to trough GDP figures and UK employment records?

In your own time, Friday would be good.

John

Where are the trolls tonight?
Has Mandy not given them a decent line to spin?

Kennybhoy

"..in Glasgow East he would have got out of the limo and smacked the old lady in the mouth."

In which case all the kings horses and all the king's men would have been unable to put him back together again.

David Price

For me, the most interesting things were these:

[1] Gordon got angry because someone had the temerity to disagree with him; he is convinced he is right about everything.

[2] When the old lady told him of her fears of immigration (because of the damage it's done to access to services), he simply exchanged statistics with her ("there are one million Britains living abroad); he simply cannot empathise, failing to feel what it's like to be an ordinary person. He's out of touch.

[3] He called her a 'bigot'; he sought to make an ideological point, when she was simply making a practical point. His instinct to smear others who don't share his views, from an ideological standpoint.

[4] He gave a pathetic obfuscatory 'explanation', his natural instinct is to lie his way out of his mistake.

[5] He instantly blamed someone else; he cannot take responsibility for his own actions.

Julian the wonderhorse

Not enough, 10 more reasons please

BGarvie

Brown's staff, colleagues and journalists cannot hide this horrendous gaffe. As Mrs. Duffy's niece states, "He has shown his true colours. He's always trying to pretend to be so nice and in touch with the people, but he's obviously not." Dysfunctional Brown does not have the temperament to handle the pressures of the highest office in the land. It is frightening to think he has 'his finger' on our nuclear button. It showed complete disrespect for a hard working grandmother and staggeringly a life time supporter. He has lost his focus completely.
He is psychologically flawed and does not engender confidence. Most of the electorate will reject him on the 6th of May when he will go down to the biggest electoral defeat in history.

Any Colour but Brown

Where is Dick the Dork, when you need a Whirling Dervish to try and spin Brown out of this one.

addenough

45 minutes grovelling to Mrs Duffy merely to save his own miserable skin. How many minutes spent with the families of the military he cynically sent to war ill-equipped? None! I cannot try express the depths of the revulsion and contempt that I feel for this despicable man who has ruined us all.

Amfortas

Brown has caused immigration to be an issue. DC can now deal with this without being "nasty". We all know the country is crying out for a leader of a mainstream party to acknowledge their concerns. DC could gather votes by the bucketfull if he became that man. To ensure Lib Dem rout just tell people what their policies are- amnesty for illegal immigrants and scrapping the pound.

w.woman

Brown is so totally removed from reality.His exchange with Mrs Duffy wasnt a disaster he had answered her questions no better or worse than any politician would have done.His immediate default position is to blame someone for the imagined disaster.He is a sad pathetic man.

Naomi Muse

@addenough. It says a lot for Mrs Duffy that even with the great clunking fist thumping her coffee table and smarming around her for 45 minutes he did not manage to persuade her to come out of her front door with him as a sign of reconciliation.

Mrs Duffy 2 Mr Brown Nil

Philip, London

@ Fox in a Box:

Does any one else look at that picture of Brown coming through the door and think, "Here's Johnny!"? Or is it just me?

I think it's just you - I'm thinking more.. 'Here's Chucky..'