An awful PM but not heartless
Like many people in this country I am not too keen on our current Prime Minister.
I think he is an awful PM, unappealing, clumsy, he misunderstands the public mood, and has made some fairly dreadful errors since taking over from Blair. That said I do not think he is callous or cruel and in my view the current media frenzy around his hand written letter to the mother of Grenadier Guardsman Jamie Janes has gone too far.
I have no doubt that his handwriting is dreadful, and that he struggles with this basic task probably in part due to his eyesight. To suggest that Brown was dismissive or uncaring about the troops overseas and their families back home is simply wrong and I think that my party as the official opposition ought to be saying so.
I have no doubt that any PM who sends our troops into battle does so in the full knowledge that some will not return, it must be one of the most difficult and emotional decisions for any PM to take. Whilst it is obvious that Brown’s letter has upset the family of Jamie Janes it is not the sort of mistake that politicians would want to make.
Brown said he was mortified. Politics aside I know that all of us would feel exactly the same.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I’m sure those who criticise Brown over this would agree that compared to Donald Rusmfeld, whose signature was laser printed on a form letter to bereaved parents, he shows a lot more compassion. By handwriting a letter to each family he shows he is very much in touch with the reality of how the war touches lives.
I completely agree with the sentiments above. Brown is not perfect by a long way but in this case he desreves a break.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Well said. What this mother who was so full of grief was doing, going to the Sun in the first place defeats me.
Grief is so deep and numbing, where did she think of going to a rag with the memory of her son would help
This 5 mins of fame does no one any credit, least of all the memory of a soldier dying for his country.
I am glad to see decent people come out and support Brown .I am no fan of his , but he is at heart a good man, seems he cannot do anything right when it comes to the gutter press, what they need to realise is that they may well be stacking up sympathy not aggro for him
November 10th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Come on for god sake, he might have problems with his eyes now all of a sudden words like dyslexia are used, Brown cannot see well enough to spell, oh yes.
You make sure if you have problems somebody checks your letters if you have problem especially to the mother of a dead child, because that is what he is to his mother, the letter should have been checked, he should have known his name, and lets be honest he is getting what he deserves.