YAHOO! NEWS: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has apologised "profusely" after he was caught on microphone branding a woman who spoke to him on the campaign trail "bigoted".
The PM's comments came as he was driven away from an event in Rochdale at which 65-year-old widow Gillian Duffy tackled him in front of the cameras about Britain's financial problems, taxes, student financing and immigration.
Unaware that his radio mic was still connected, Mr Brown told an aide that the encounter had been "a disaster" and said he should never have been made to speak with Mrs Duffy, adding: "She was just a bigoted woman."
Labour has changed its campaigning tactics in recent days to expose Mr Brown to ordinary voters more, after complaints that he had been appearing only in carefully controlled conditions in front of Labour supporters.
Immediately following her discussion with Mr Brown, Mrs Duffy said she would vote Labour and thought the PM was "nice".
However, in his car, a clearly angry PM was telling his aide: "That was a disaster - they should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that? It's just ridiculous..." Asked what Mrs Duffy had said, he replied: "Everything, she was just a bigoted woman." >>> ITN | Wednesday, April 28, 2010
