Who feels sorry for Gordon???

Oh dear, just realised it's going to be Gordon's turn as piggy in the middle during the debate tonight. I really do feel for him!

exactly right Granny23. Labour have to appeal to their core voters. Mrs. Duffy was a core voter. Calling core voters bigots is a recipe for disaster. That is why the spin machine has spun into action and Labour are desperate to save themselves from this momumental blunder. The apologies have been profuse but only time will tell if they have been enough.

Surely it is not enough to simply label this woman a bigot and therefore her views (on several issues) not worth considering. She was a typical 'old labour', Sun or Mirror reading voter, similar to the thousands who are turning to the BNP. NuLabour has ceased to represent their old loyal working class support in favour of chasing the middle classes. They surely cannot continue to dismiss the concerns of 50% of their supporters as bigotted simply because they do not toe the current party line. Woman was trying to articulate, to her party leader that 'Labour is not Working' for me and mine. He chose not to listen to her, just mouthed platitudes and moved on. Labour needs to address the concerns of ordinary, disadvataged people.

I FORGIVE YOU GORDON!!!!!

And that calling her a bigot was not without some justification.

No granny - we are not choosing to vote for someone because we feel sorry for them. We are saying (if i may speak for others) that we feel sorry for him and this will not change our view of him (this has been said by both labour supporters and arch opponents).

I feel no sympathy at all and am astonished that some of you would choose as Prime Minister someone you 'feel sorry for' - because of his incompetence and lack of understanding of ordinary people. Would you still feel sorry for him if this lapse had occured during crucial talks with other world leaders?

Yesterday's constituency visit was obviously mismanaged. 'Sue' allowed an unvetted ordinary woman to speak to his preciousness and the media failed on this occasion to either bury or spin the incident in Gordon's favour. Nothing here to make a fuss about, move on to tomorrow's manufactured story.

Kif. I understand exactly where you are coming from. I pass for English until I open my mouth. It's amazing what people will say to you if they don't realise you are foreign.

You know what, bollocks.

I grew up in a place where there were no ethnic minorities. Actually, I lie. There was 1 chinese family (who owned the Painted Fan) and 1 Bangladeshi family (who owned the Rajah Tandoori). There were 2 ethnic kids in my school.

I now live in a really multicultural city. I like the fact there people of all nationalities in the street, there is little racial tension here and everyone rubs along together. It's a good thing in my book.

Although there are lots of people who are worried about immigration, there are also lots of people who genuinely do not care, and think that there are many other issues on policy which need to be looked at before immigration.

watch the full 5 minute video and read the full transcript, and you will see how innocuous it was, and how Brown tried to use it as a way of shining. The fact that he described the interview as "ridiculous" and a "disaster" and Mrs. Duffy as "some old bigoted woman" gives us a very important insight into his character. It is this character that his spin doctors are now working overtime trying to rehabilitate. All of the good work done by the spinners over the past few years has been undone by this episode. Brown has been revealed to be what he always was, beneath his media mask and his tutored grin
www.channel4.com/news/articles/vote_2010/when+gillian+met+gordon+the+full+transcript/3629187

Yes. I am polite to fuckwits at work as to not be so would make me unprofessional.

But I often put the phone down and mutter 'oh piss off you twat'

Tis normal.

He was polite. If you think about it, most politeness can also be termed "twofacednes".

"Who wouldn't hate those kind of "get ambushed in the street" things?"

Given it was a Labour supporter, rather than some "plant" wanting to make trouble, it seems rather odd that he would feel "ambushed". Certainly it sounded like she had asked pertinent questions (I am perhaps the only person who has not seen any of the TV coverage, but did hear the piece of conversation from GB in his car, as it made radio news for hours, of course).

Seems like something of an "own goal" as he apparently left giving her normal pleasantries and then like a hypocrite, slagged her off once he thought he was out of earshot.

It's understandable he'd be contrite, if only because otherwise all Labour voters might consider him two-faced and be worried about anything he said in public, and whether he means it truthfully, or not.

Hundred: he lied. He was two faced.

Poor GB, just as well us ordinary folk don't have mics attached to us when we walk away from people, I'd have been in big trouble every day this week. Clearly a set up by good old Sky, the Murdoch corperation doing their best to scupper the Labour campaign.

QuintessentialShadow I know exactly what you mean. I am of foreign birth. Now I carry my 'English' married name and have what is perceived as a 'posh' accent.

Once I was in the pub with my friends Dad, and he went off on a huge rant about 'foreigners' who were stealing jobs/education/benefits before going back to 'their own country'. My friends cracked up laughing, and told him he was talking to one of them. He then back tracked excruciatingly, trying to say that I obviously wasn't one of those foreigners.

She was a bigot. Good for Gordon Brown. Is it wrong to have a crush on him...? Still voting for 'my mate Dave' though.

I'm just sorry he apologised so profusely

If I wasn't already going to vote for him it would actually make me more likely to vote for him. He proved that he really is a committed anti-racist and when he mistook that woman's sentiment (if he did? ) he was actually genuinely upset and angry about what he perceived to be small-mindeness. I love the fact that he is passionate about fairness and openness in society

You know what, I was swithering a bit, but was probably going to vote Lib Dem as per usual, but I've now decided to vote Labour.

I like the fact that he was cheesed off with the bigotry of that woman.

I don't feel sorry for any politician. They are there to do a job and at a time like this should be acting professionally and decently! What an idiot!

However, the media love to turn nothing into something....BUT Gordon Brown is very aware of this so should be being a bit more careful.

I actually quite like Gordon Brown as a person, but his politics are wrong (in my opinion).

Cartoose, you are right the chat went very well for him. He was obsequious in his praise of her, describing her as a very good woman. He is a control freak, he wasn't satisfied with how it went, she dared to question some of his policies, he couldn't control that. He can alledgedly throw phones at his minions, but this was "some old woman", it was being recorded for TV, his rictus grin was being used to full effect. He thought it was a disaster because he expected grovelling subservience, unfortunately he met a real voter. Unfortunately, even Labour supporters like Mrs. Duffy, who disagree with him, are all bigots to him. The great Gordon sees the ordinary voters as bigots, he is like Julius Caesar in 'Carry on Cleo' with his "infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me".

But mrssceptic why would eavesdropping on a politician making a private remark and expressing an opinion suggest they were untrustworthy or make me lack confidence in them?

I don't understand that at all. The fact that politicians have private thoughts on people they meet which they express privately only strikes me as deeply normal.

" It is not like he said to her face: "You are ill informed, bigoted and racist." Now, THAT would be newsworthy."

Hehe. I'd like to see that.