Alex Massie Alex Massie

Oh Dear: Calling Voters “Bigots” Doesn’t Often End Well

Well the only good thing, from Labour’s perspective, is that this has happened the day before the final debate and not several days before it. So there’s just a chance it will be a 36 hour story, not a 72 hours one. Clearly it’s not a great idea for the Prime Minister to be heard calling a middle-aged widow he’s just encountered on the mean streets of Rochdale a terrible “bigoted woman”.

The video is excruciating and demonstrates why Labour have generally been wise to keep Gordon away from the general public during this campaign:

The comments once Brown has escaped to the supposed-safety of his car are pretty awful, but it’s the small talk with Gillian Duffy that is truly painful. Here’s a man who, whatever his other qualities, is not cut out for modern retail politics. Anyway, the tape isn’t 100% clear but here’s the juicy bit:

Immediately following her discussion with Mr Brown, Mrs Duffy said she would vote Labour and thought the PM was “nice”.

However, in his car, a clearly angry PM was telling his aide: “That was a disaster – they should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that? It’s just ridiculous…” Asked what Mrs Duffy had said, he replied: “Everything, she was just a bigoted woman.”

So, yes, not so good. Over at Labour List Alex Smith, bless him, makes a valiant attempt to spin this away:

For activists who are fighting hard in this campaign, we cannot allow this to demotivate us: in a Channel 4 poll just taken, 70% of respondents said such a comment will not make them less likely to vote Labour.

And where I’m fighting, in Islington, and all around the country, there are bigger things at stake than worrying too much about one personality or a comment Brown should never have made.


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