LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown has bared his soul to Britons in a television interview in which he speaks about the death of his infant daughter and his hopes for his son who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
Political commentators said the interview was a significant change of tone for the 58-year-old Brown, often portrayed as buttoned-up and more comfortable reeling off economic statistics than talking about his emotions.
Brown has also faced accusations that he is prone to violent temper tantrums, claims that resurfaced this week in a book by a former Labour Party aide.
“I think it’s a necessary and potentially successful means of remedying one of Gordon Brown’s historical deficiencies. He’s been too one-dimensional,” said Andrew Hawkins, chief executive of pollsters ComRes.
Brown must call a general election by June. His Labour Party, in power since 1997, trails the opposition Conservatives in polls but the gap is narrowing.
In the pre-recorded interview, to be broadcast on Sunday night on ITV’s “Piers Morgan’s Life Stories”, an emotional Brown speaks of his grief over the death of his infant daughter Jennifer Jane in January 2002.
“You know, she would be 9 this year and, you know, you think all the time of the first steps, and the first words and the first time you go to school, and it’s just not been there,” Brown said.
Brown, the son of a Scottish church minister, has two sons. The younger one, 3-year-old Fraser, suffers from cystic fibrosis, a condition that can reduce life expectancy to around 40 years. In the interview, Brown said he was confident that medical advances could help his son.
Cameron’s loss
Opposition leader David Cameron, 15 years Brown’s junior and a smoother communicator, lost his disabled son Ivan a year ago at the age of 6.
In his keynote speech to his party conference last October, Cameron said his grief had made him question whether he wanted to continue with his political career.
Brown, who was finance minister for 10 years, has never led Labour into an election, having replaced Tony Blair mid-term in 2007 after Labour’s third successive election victory. In the interview, Brown says that he clashed with Blair when they worked together, confirming reports of an uneasy relationship.
During the forthcoming campaign, party leaders will take part in televised debates — a first for Britain.
Blair was particularly adept at capturing the public mood in his statements and media appearances, although his critics said he ultimately ended up opting for softer, personality-based interviews rather than discussing details of policy.
Steven Fielding, professor of political history at Nottingham University, said that opening up in this way could carry risks for Brown.
“When Gordon Brown first became prime minister, they made a virtue of a return to old-style politics — there was even a poster: ‘Not Flash, Just Gordon’.”
Fielding said Brown’s appearance on a TV show that normally interviews celebrities from the world of entertainment and sport was a concession to modern tastes in politics.
“It’s a kind of gesture. Because of the presidentialisation of the (role of) prime minister, people want to know more about the person.”
