I actually felt human sympathy for Gordon Brown when I caught the beginning of Prime Minister’s Questions on the radio this lunchtime
The House was clearly very subdued. The Prime Minister dealt well with the conventional opening remarks, even though sounding tired & almost defeated
But then he began his first substantive answer with the news that "the Royal Mail is losing 5 million letters a year"
Suppressed gasps, a few nervous titters – the House clearly needed permission to laugh sympathetically: Treacherous things words, eh!
We all know that the previous PM could have done it with a boyish aw shucks & graceful self deprecation
Not he of the clunking fist, all he could do was stumble over an attempt to explain , sounding almost like a little boy who made a mistake in class: What I really meant is ...
We all knew that Gordon. We are clever enough for that, at least
