For Mr Dear Gordon Brown and Family, because I know Sarah Brown may lurk, a support thread

Mr Brown,

I think you've done an admirable job in the face of overwhelming adversity. The media have made your job impossible and that has been tremendously unfair because, had you been given a chance by them and by your predecessor, I think you could've been a tremendous PM.

Thank you for bringing a bit of gravitas to politics as a counter to the fluff. It was refreshing while it lasted. I hope that you continue to exert a considerable influence over your party from the wings.

Best wishes to you and your family.

I'm so sorry you're going Mr Brown, I didn't vote for your party this time round ( wouldn't have made the slightest difference here) I do think you are a principled, intelligent and above all honest man. I found your demeanour a refreshing change from all the smooth, shallow types you leave in your wake.

I think time will show you to have been hounded out by the Murdoch media. You didn't cause the recession, unscrupulous bankers did that, but you know that.

I've struggled with much of the style and many of the decisions of the Labour Party in power over the past 13 years. The gradual erosion of a moral foreign policy was so sad to watch. I don't know whether or not it is possible anymore to hold to a belief when the full force of the 24 hour media is looking for a story - any story. I suspect that you haven't been permitted to act and speak in a way that felt real to you for quite a while. I still think that you are a good man. I hope that whatever you decide to do next gives you satisfaction and I belive that whatever it is you will continue to work for those who most need support.

Mr Brown,
Just wanted to say, I'm not a labour voter, but I do hope that you and and your family get some time together to rest and recuperate after all this publicity. Enjoy your retirement.

Dear Mr Brown,

I join with the others in saying THANK YOU.

Some of us saw past the celebrity-focus and negativity in the press and the other parties, and could see a man with a central core of honour, integrity and duty who was doing his best for our country.

Thank you for Sure Start, thank you for Child Tax Credits, thank you for the Child Trust Funds. Those will stand amongst your legacies - clear examples of working for our most vulnerable.

Thank you too for doing your best to keep this current situation calm and working as an effective caretaker while the way forward is decided between the three parties.

I wish you, Sarah, and your two boys all the very best moving forward.

I do hope Sarah Brown has seen this thread and shown it to her husband.

Gordon Brown is one of the few politicians who puts substance and integrity over style and image.

I feel he is a a fundamentally decent and honest man who genuinely tried to do the best in bad circumstances. The mauling of the Tory press meant he was never going to get an easy ride.

I feel very very sad he is standing down.

I'm a fair way left of you politically, GB. But you've done some good things for this country and I'll be sad to see you go.

Lets hope this country doesn't value appearance over integrity for much longer (probably a vain hope).

I have a lot of respect for Gordon Brown as well. I think it is very sad to see an experienced politician such has himself go.

Integrity is a scarce quality nowadays and I for one will really miss that side of politics.

I wish Gordon Brown to stay true to himself hope he will get a more rewarding future.

In tears reading this. Echo all that has been said, a truly good and honourable man who won my trust. The integrity with which you have led will hopefully serve as a lasting legacy and a lesson to many.

Wishing peace and calm to you and your family.

Again I'm not a Labour voter, but I have long respected Gordon Brown as a politician and person.

I agree that he will be remembered not just as a great politician but as a good man who worked hard to make what he believed in happen.

I wish the Brown family well for the future and think that they can be proud of the contribution they have made to making our country a better place.

Gordon has been a truly honourable public servant and away from a hysterical right-wing press you will be remembered well in history.

So glad to see that there are people out there who appreciate you for the actions you have taken as CoE and PM.

I wish you and Sarah well, and hope to see you up here in Fife enjoying yourselves with your family.

Yesterday I was sad but proud to be a Brown supporter. Gordon, you exemplify everything that is good about Britain, your honest and integrity, your warmth and humour, your passion for this country, your love for your family.

I wish you and your family much happiness in your future together, wherever you may find yourselves.

Well i too am very sad of a labour without GB as leader. I have the utmost respect for you and your wife the lovely Sarah and wish you all the best with retirement. I think it is amazing to hear that you will continue to help more with charities-it just shows what a warm, caring and passionate person you are.

You have a great understanding of the hardships and needs many families have in this country.Yes you have made mistakes like the rest of us but im a firm believer it can be forgiven if your heart is in the right place and i definitely believe yours is.I will miss sharing the passion and the visions you had for this country.I can say this with all honesty you have changed mine and my childrens life. Tax credits, childrens centres, the NHS i could go on and on.I think people will realise what they had when you are gone.God bless you and may life treat you and your family well much love and best wishes xx

And Sarah behind every great man is a great women xxx

Dear Gordon Brown,

You were a great chancellor and a good PM - and I thought it was really unfair that as PM you were expected to be more blairishly smooth than comes naturally. FWIW I liked it when you looked serious and highbrow. You didn't need PR-ifying!

My 4-yo son loves you and is very upset you're no longer our leader. We have often got him into his pjs by telling him you have issued a dictat that all pjs are banned (reverse psychology you see )

PS why not come back to scotland, lead labour to victory and be first minister?

I am really sad to see you go Gordon, a true convictions politician. I really respect you and what you have achieved for this country. I really don't think that there is anyone in the Labour party who is more worthy than you at the moment. I hope you can relax a bit with your family now .

Totally agree with both your possts Abs - well put.

I would also like to despair at the fact that it seems this country are so taken in by appearance and spin doctors. Have a genuine, intelligent, devoted politician, and the media tears them apart, bring on a shiny, fakey fakey strawman, and they fawn over them. It's very sad.

I think GB did an admirable job, actually. It's time for him to step down, yes, but I commend him for his good work and for taking all the bile and blame aimed at him on the chin.

He inherited the public outrage over Iraq and lurched straight into an international economic crisis for which he was scapegoated by the gobshite Tory press. He is a man of incredible strength and spirit to have survived all of that (and not just 'survive' - continued to govern with vigour and intelligence).

I hated all the 'wives' hype in the media, by the way - ridiculous guff - but I secretly harboured an admiration and fondness for Sarah Brown. An intelligent, sensitive, understated sort of woman.

Dear Mr Brown,

I would like to say, that you are one of the few politicians I have ever trusted, or felt was genuine.

I think the way you were treated by the media is horrific, and that history will treat you more kindly.

You were a wonderful Chancellor, and brilliant Prime Minister (especially since it seems the media was against you from the start, and Tony stepped out just as things were going pear-shaped).

I hope that you enjoy having this time to spend with your family!

[great thread expat!]

Sarah Brown comes over as an elegant, calm person with a lot of common sense. She has been a rock for her husband and completely dignified.

I'm not a Labour voter so politics aside, I hope the Brown family find peace to enjoy a normal family life after all the hullabulloo has passed.

Well said. Gordon Brown can rightly be proud of the majority achieved in the past 13 years. I am sad to see him go. I feel he has gone as he is as terrified as I am of the conservatives in power & felt this was the last card to play. He has shown integrity & grace under fire throughout the despicable Murdoch led smear campaign against him.

Well said Expat. I agree completely and wish them all the best.

Brilliant idea Expat.

I have a really high regard for Gordon Brown. A lot of respect for him as he has had a bloody hard time of it (since PM). I have hated hated the way the right wing media have pulled him to pieces and over analysed his every mood. I truly believe (and so do so many people in RL) that GB is a good, strong man with firm beliefs and a sense of justice.

That speech he made last week at Citizens UK summed him up - strong, impassioned, intelligent and striving to achieve, and encourage everyone in this country to aspire to a better life.

I think Sarah Brown has completly changed how we see the role of the PM's wife. Coming after Cherie Blair she has shownb that you can have an important role as the PM's wife, without being a malign and distracting force. I think she is hugely admirable and likeable.

GB was utterly crucified by the Murdoch press. It was disgusting to see. I live in hope that people are not as stupid as the tabloid editors think we are - and that most people saw through it as the RW propaganda it was.

I wish him every luck in the future. Somehow, I don't think he will be swanning around the world doing well paid lectures. Like others have said I hope that history will judge him fairly.

tashtodd, there are plenty of other threads for that.

Totally agree expat.

Yes he made mistakes as PM but who wouldn't have, would TB or a Tory PM done any better.

He bailed out the banks which kept my husband in a job (before I get shot down he's not a greedy banker earning £££s) and did some great things already mentioned here.

I will miss him.