James Forsyth James Forsyth

Hello, it’s Gordon here. I just wanted to explain…

When I saw this story I had to check the date but it is not an April Fool, Gordon Brown really is cold calling members of the public who write him critical letters.  PR Week, where else, reports that this is Stephen Carter’s latest ‘brainwave’:

‘Carter thought it was a good idea to have Brown call people personally,’ said one insider. ‘Carter will choose a letter or email at random, have one of his team at Number 10 prepare a res¬ponse, then get Brown to call.’

The potential for this to go horribly wrong is huge. Brown has already rung someone at 6am by mistake and it is not hard to imagine him getting into a shouting match with one of the people he calls.

If the PM rings you do let us know. We’d like to offer a case of champagne to the first Coffee Houser who can provide a genuine recording of one of these calls.

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