Bigotgate
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The bigoted woman incident occurred on 28 April 2010 during campaigning for the 2010 United Kingdom general election. A 65-year-old pensioner from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, gained media celebrity[1] when sitting Prime Minister Gordon Brown called her a "bigoted woman" after she asked questions about Eastern European immigration at a walkabout. Among the topics she confronted Mr Brown about was immigration, complaining about the number of people from Eastern Europe now living in the UK. She has said that she and her family have been lifelong Labour Party supporters.
Brown spent nearly five minutes answering the voter's questions on a range of issues, including tax on pensions, the national debt, and education policy. In response to her query about Eastern European immigrants, he explained that, "A million people have come from Europe but a million British people have gone into Europe. You do know that there’s a lot of British people staying in Europe as well."
At the end of their talk, he told her: "It's been very good to meet you." He smiled at the woman and then got into a waiting car. However, a microphone picked up his words to an aide as he drove away. Brown was caught saying: "That was a disaster. His aide asked: "What did she say?" Brown replied: "Well, just...You should never have put me with that woman. "Whose idea was that?" The aide responded: "I don't know, I didn't see her. It was Sue I think..." Brown went on: "It's just ridiculous." The aide said: "They're pictures, I'm not sure they'll go with that one." "They'll go with it," Brown said. "What did she say," his aide asked. Mr Brown replied: "Oh, everything, she's just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to vote Labour."
After hearing what the Prime Minister had said about her, she said it was "very upsetting". She added: "He's an educated person, why has he come out with words like that? Soon after the incident, Brown talked to Jeremy Vine live on BBC Radio 2 where he publicly apologised to the voter. He is also reported to have made a personal apology to the voter via a telephone call.
Subsequently Brown visited the voter in her house for forty-two minutes in order to apologise in person. Upon emerging, he described himself as a "repentant sinner",[2] while the voter refused to speak to the press.
References
External links
- Gordon Brown and "Bigoted Woman" in full - Rochdale 28 April 2010 (video of voter's original conversation with the PM)
- Profile of the voter (BBC News)
- Brown Apologises For 'Bigot' Gaffe (Sky News)