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UK's Brown calls voter bigoted, apologises
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UK's Brown calls voter "bigoted," apologises
Kylie MacLellan and Fiona Shaikh
LONDON
Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:32am EDT
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LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was caught on tape describing a voter as "a bigoted woman" on Wednesday after she confronted him on immigration and the economy in an election campaign walkabout in northern England.
World
Brown made the unguarded comment in his car as he drove away from a visit designed to bring him into closer contact with the broader public rather than carefully staged party meetings. His Labour Party trails the opposition Conservatives and, in some polls, the third force Liberal Democrats.
"That was a disaster," Brown was heard saying as he got into the car after an apparently amicable parting with the 66-year-old woman. "Whose idea was that? It's ridiculous."
When asked what she had said, Brown, still wearing a broadcast microphone, replied: "Everything, she's just sort of a bigoted woman."
Brown, who was shown on television with his head in his hands as the comments were replayed to him during an interview with the BBC, said he apologized "profusely.
Labour, which has closed the opposition Conservatives' lead in the opinion polls over the last few months, had high hopes for this week's campaigning, which centres around Thursday's economy focused television debate.
The election takes place on May 6.
The third and final leaders debate, an opportunity for former finance minister Brown to highlight his experience in handling the economy, is now likely to be overshadowed.
"It clearly won't play well in the news today and it will dominate the news when Labour wanted to be speaking about something else," said Justin Fisher, Professor of Political Science at Brunel University.
The pensioner, who said she had voted Labour, had asked Brown how he would tackle the country's record deficit as well as other issues ranging from east European immigration, pensions, university tuition fees and anti-social behavior.
FINANCIAL CHAOS
Much of Wednesday's campaigning had been focused on the economy and Britain's record budget deficit.
Vince Cable, treasury spokesman for Britain's third party, the Liberal Democrats, told Reuters all the big parties were agreed on the need to cut government borrowing, warning that failing to do so risked Greek-style financial chaos.
Greece, which saw its debt downgraded to junk status by rating agency Standard & Poor's on Tuesday, is currently in talks with the IMF and the European Union on getting a 45 billion euro bail-out package to prevent a sovereign default.
Greece's budget deficit last year stood at 13.6 percent of GDP, compared to a British deficit running at over 11 percent.
Sterling fell to a three-week low against the dollar on Wednesday reflecting a growing concern about the state of the British public finances.
Labour Business Minister Peter Mandelson said that likening Britain to Greece was "frankly ridiculous."
"We are in a very, very different situation in Britain from that in Greece," he told reporters.
Opposition Conservative leader David Cameron said that while there were many differences between the two countries, Britain should take note of Greece's troubles.
SPENDING SQUEEZE
Opinion polls on Wednesday continued to point to a hung parliament, in which no one party wins an overall majority, but showed the Conservatives and Labour had regained some ground from the third force Lib Dems, who have enjoyed a ratings boost since the first TV leaders' debate.
Britain has not had an inconclusive election since 1974 and both large parties have warned that a "hung parliament" would be bad for the country and its economy.
Repairing the public finances will be the biggest domestic policy challenge for government emerges after the election, but the parties have been reluctant to risk voters' wrath by clearly identifying the extent of cuts.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said on Tuesday the impending spending squeeze would be the sharpest in at least 30 years and warned the parties would likely have to raise taxes more than they are prepared to admit.
World
Comments
See All Comments (4) | Post Comment
Apr 28, 2010 10:59am EDT
Gordon Brown really is a jerk at times. The other two chaps aren’t terribly appealling either. Sell GBP
Gotthardbahn
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Apr 28, 2010 11:23am EDT
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liqun
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Apr 28, 2010 11:25am EDT
This story highlights why only a moron would vote for Labour. This woman had supported Labour and her reward once she got to speak to the PM was to be attacked in private for questioning her “superiors”.
Gordon should be the first against the wall when the revolution comes!
MagAodh
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Apr 28, 2010 11:37am EDT
A hung parliament is EXACTLY what Britain needs. The political situation in Britain is very similar to here in the US, two major parties that are so similar as to provide no meaningful choice for the people at all.
Britain’s political elites are arrogant an self-serving, just as here in the US. As I recall, the British public was overwhelmingly against the invasion of Iraq, but both Labor and Tory plunged ahead anyway. A hung parliament will give Lib Dems the power they need to force a change to proportional representation, without giving them the incentive to maintain winner take all elections, replacing one of the other two majors.
But even if the Lib Dems were to surge ahead and win an outright majority, that would be preferable to either Labor or Tory winning. Britain can then stop playing lapdog to Empire, and avoid all the negative consequences that entails.
wjrood
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