Thursday, April 29, 2010

Poor old Gordon Brown

So since when was calling a bigot a bigot a gaffe?

Askin'.

14 comments:

yatima said...

Yes! This!

Mindy said...

Apparently during an election campaign while still miked up. I actually wonder if it might win him some votes. I think I'd still vote for him, if I were in the UK and had voting rights.

tigtog said...

I'd be more likely to vote for him if he'd had the gumption to say "that seems a rather bigoted view" when she actually asked the questions.

I reckon going back to apologise will have lost him more votes than actually calling her a bigot did.

Helen said...

As they said on Crooked Timber, all he was doing was having a vent in private, except that the mike was on, of course. But I did like the comment that it was delicious irony given the UK govt is a bit keen on surveillance.

Barbara Temperton said...

I agree completely, Gordon.

Louise said...

My thoughts exactly. I thought the gaffe was spending 45 minutes apologising.

Nabakov said...

Yes, the only golden rule of modern politics.

"The mike is always live."

"But I did like the comment that it was delicious irony given the UK govt is a bit keen on surveillance.'

Yes, I instantly had the same thought when this story broke. You could call it as the comments bouncer does, an "apightie".

What our pollies forget is that the 21st century's increasingly cheap and pervasive surveillance tech can also be hacked into sousveillance.

I look forward to CCTV being installed in our leaders' bedrooms (for security reasons, natch) and the footage leaked to You Tube.

Mindy said...

You are quite on your own there Nabakov. Especially if Tony Abbott is still around. To anyone still eating breakfast, I sincerely apologise for that image.

M-H said...

Oh yeah, to the post. But to Nabakov, wash your mouth out! Now! With carbolic! Eeeeew!

JahTeh said...

Mindy, would he wear nylon or lycra to bed? Just asking.

Frances said...

The Labour government that Gordon Brown leads is the reason that there are more surveillance cameras per head of population in the UK, than anywhere else in the world.

If technological surveillance has caught him out, who can feel sorry for him?

Mindy said...

@ Jah Teh - I don't want to be thinking this, but I am thinking lycra. At least his wife wouldn't have to iron that.

David Irving (no relation) said...

I must admit my first thought was that he was just being accurate. He should've had the guts to say so to her face, then he wouldn't have needed the 15 hours of grovelling apology.

It kind of reminded me of Bob Hawke's "Silly old bugger!" moment.

Nigel said...

I don't really feel qualified to comment on British politics, mostly out of my own disinterest, in the same way I'm becoming more and more disinterested in Australian national politics - more backflips than a travelling circus. But I reckon with this whole Gordon Brown cock-up that it's about the sound of his voice in the car as he was driven away like Lord Muck. Up until then he'd handled it nicely - people move around all over the place so let's get over it. But then he sounded like, 'Oh god, what was the peasant doing near me. Why did I have be on the same pavement AS THAT. I feel so dirty. Urgh, get me out of this suburban backwater.' Possibly.