More Winky lies
Discussion
A few more whoppers in an interview in The Standard today:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-238...
In his most intimate interview to date, he talks of his love for Sarah, the never-ending pain at the death of his daughter Jennifer, the real reason his handwriting is so bad and how he learnt his sense of duty and economic thrift from his parents.
The Prime Minister hit back after being taunted by the Tory leader in Parliament this week for leaving troops on the battlefield without proper kit and equipment.
“It is not correct. We did everything in our power to fund our forces. I am saddened by the level of debate in this country.”
So as the country prepares to square up to the great Cameron or Brown choice (with Clegg the alternative), what does Brown think of Cameron as a person?
“I don't know.”
You must know. You stand within a yard of each other almost every week in the Commons.
“I don't, I don't,” says Brown.
Will he be a formidable opponent? “I am not getting into personal things like that. The people will judge who is best for the country. The Conservative party is a formidable opponent in terms of being very well resourced in terms of money.”
Brown is happier with policies rather than personalities and with some justification presents himself as the leader who led a global coalition to avoid financial meltdown.
“My job was to find a way through it and protect people from the worst impact of a potential recession while at the same time renewing the financial system so that it could help people.”
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are more palatable subjects than talking of Cameron.
“The reason I virtually volunteered to go to the Chilcot inquiry earlier is because I do not want there to be any misunderstandings on either our commitment on defence or our decision as a Cabinet — and it was a collective Cabinet decision — to go to war,” he says.
But weren't you accused of being the Macavity of the Iraq war, disappearing from view at every crucial stage?
“That is not true. If you look at the history, the weekend before the war with the vote in the House of Commons, I was on television the whole time”
The war in Afghanistan has meant almost weekly news of British soldiers killed or wounded. One war fatality that shook Brown was that of Guardsman Jamie Janes in Afghanistan, which led to accusations that the Prime Minister had been insensitive over his letter of condolence to the soldier's mother with their surname appearing to be misspelt. This was possibly due to his near-illegible handwriting. Brown was caught in a tabloid furore as his subsequent telephone conversation with the mother was taped and published by The Sun. What had been a decent thing to do led to him being attacked.
Brown cheerfully admits his handwriting is difficult to read but says this has nothing to do with his poor eyesight but is due to the way he was taught to write at school. Teachers offered traditional and italic tuition and he took both and this led to his writing being very difficult to decipher. He allowed his handwriting to be influenced by both and to gain from neither.
“I admit it is not easy to read, but Sarah read the letters I wrote and said there are no spelling mistakes here because that is how you write. But I do apologise. I never criticised Mrs Janes or said she was unfair to me.
“I feel Afghanistan is a just war, but if someone is grieving in our country as a result of that, I feel I have a duty to talk to them. When I found out Mrs Janes was upset about the letter I immediately tried to phone and I did not know that the phone call was being taped. I wanted her to know that every time a soldier dies in Afghanistan I have to think: are we doing the right thing? Is this right that we are on this enterprise?”
(Edited from the full article with my favourite bits in bold)
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-238...
In his most intimate interview to date, he talks of his love for Sarah, the never-ending pain at the death of his daughter Jennifer, the real reason his handwriting is so bad and how he learnt his sense of duty and economic thrift from his parents.
The Prime Minister hit back after being taunted by the Tory leader in Parliament this week for leaving troops on the battlefield without proper kit and equipment.
“It is not correct. We did everything in our power to fund our forces. I am saddened by the level of debate in this country.”
So as the country prepares to square up to the great Cameron or Brown choice (with Clegg the alternative), what does Brown think of Cameron as a person?
“I don't know.”
You must know. You stand within a yard of each other almost every week in the Commons.
“I don't, I don't,” says Brown.
Will he be a formidable opponent? “I am not getting into personal things like that. The people will judge who is best for the country. The Conservative party is a formidable opponent in terms of being very well resourced in terms of money.”
Brown is happier with policies rather than personalities and with some justification presents himself as the leader who led a global coalition to avoid financial meltdown.
“My job was to find a way through it and protect people from the worst impact of a potential recession while at the same time renewing the financial system so that it could help people.”
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are more palatable subjects than talking of Cameron.
“The reason I virtually volunteered to go to the Chilcot inquiry earlier is because I do not want there to be any misunderstandings on either our commitment on defence or our decision as a Cabinet — and it was a collective Cabinet decision — to go to war,” he says.
But weren't you accused of being the Macavity of the Iraq war, disappearing from view at every crucial stage?
“That is not true. If you look at the history, the weekend before the war with the vote in the House of Commons, I was on television the whole time”
The war in Afghanistan has meant almost weekly news of British soldiers killed or wounded. One war fatality that shook Brown was that of Guardsman Jamie Janes in Afghanistan, which led to accusations that the Prime Minister had been insensitive over his letter of condolence to the soldier's mother with their surname appearing to be misspelt. This was possibly due to his near-illegible handwriting. Brown was caught in a tabloid furore as his subsequent telephone conversation with the mother was taped and published by The Sun. What had been a decent thing to do led to him being attacked.
Brown cheerfully admits his handwriting is difficult to read but says this has nothing to do with his poor eyesight but is due to the way he was taught to write at school. Teachers offered traditional and italic tuition and he took both and this led to his writing being very difficult to decipher. He allowed his handwriting to be influenced by both and to gain from neither.
“I admit it is not easy to read, but Sarah read the letters I wrote and said there are no spelling mistakes here because that is how you write. But I do apologise. I never criticised Mrs Janes or said she was unfair to me.
“I feel Afghanistan is a just war, but if someone is grieving in our country as a result of that, I feel I have a duty to talk to them. When I found out Mrs Janes was upset about the letter I immediately tried to phone and I did not know that the phone call was being taped. I wanted her to know that every time a soldier dies in Afghanistan I have to think: are we doing the right thing? Is this right that we are on this enterprise?”
(Edited from the full article with my favourite bits in bold)
Edited by fastfreddy on Saturday 6th February 13:19
The Standard owes me a new keyboard. This one is covered in sick.
Under its new Russian owner the standard of the Standard has dropped so low they soon won't even be able to give it away.
How ironic that The Idiot is using a London paper to kick-start his election campaign. You know. London. The city that kicked a Labour mayor into touch.
Under its new Russian owner the standard of the Standard has dropped so low they soon won't even be able to give it away.
How ironic that The Idiot is using a London paper to kick-start his election campaign. You know. London. The city that kicked a Labour mayor into touch.
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