Brown attempts "Heathcliff" makeover

Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:10pm BST
 
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By Katherine Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown sought to soften his image on Thursday with a chatty interview that pried into his private life, but drew ridicule after he compared himself to a tormented literary character.

Brown -- frequently referred to as a dour Scot who lacks people skills -- spoke about his sleep patterns and nail-biting habit in an interview with New Statesman magazine.

He also conversed with young voters on YouTube.

But Brown's critics seized on a light-hearted comment in which he likened himself to Heathcliff, the brooding, romantic anti-hero of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights".

When his interviewer said Brown reminded some women of Heathcliff, he answered: "Absolutely correct."

"Well, maybe an older Heathcliff, a wiser Heathcliff."

Heathcliff wandered the Yorkshire moors, tortured by the ghost of his lost love Cathy, and ended his life a broken man.

Opponents in his ruling Labour Party and elsewhere seized on the comments. Brown has slumped so low in opinion polls that the opposition Conservatives are on track for a landslide win in the next general election, due by 2010.  Continued...

 
Prime Minister Gordon Brown leaves Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, in London December 2, 2009. REUTERS/Toby Melville
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