What a distasteful affair this has turned into. I would be the last to defend Gordon Brown on any issue of politics, however when the attack gets personal I feel the attacker has lost the case and the initiative.

I have every confidence that Gordon Brown wrote the letter to Mrs. Janes with all sincerity and for it to have been in his own hand is a good thing. To criticise the letter is one thing, to record a phone call is something totally different. How many times do we here “telephone calls are recorded for training purposes” to warn callers of this occurring, so to do it secretly is just not on.

Nevertheless, just as I was on Gordon’s side on this, up steps Mandelson and opens his mouth for his own publicity and has taken away any thoughts for Brown when he accuses the media of manipulating the situation for their own agenda. The phrase about pots calling kettles black springs to mind.

This individual incident is indeed very sad and emotive, that said no political argument should be reduced to personal attack as we simply do not know the sentiments or the conditions prevailing at the time of writing that letter.

There is enough ammunition around to attack this failed government if only the people want to listen without resorting to sleaze tactics.

Let us instead look to a future where this type of childlike behaviour is eliminated from the serious business of running our country and the emergence of a new political force through a Democratic Alliance of smaller parties and independents to break the dominance of the failed major political parties.

by Mike Ross OBE - Business & Industry Spokesman

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