Gordon Brown’s ‘bigoted woman’ quits Labour because of Jeremy Corbyn At the end of a week during which David Cameron was caught on camera bragging to the Queen about the […]

At the end of a week during which David Cameron was caught on camera bragging to the Queen about the leaders of “fantastically corrupt” countries coming to Britain and footage emerged of the monarch describing Chinese officials as “very rude”, Gordon Brown could be forgiven for experiencing a touch of schadenfreude.

“I don’t want to talk to Gordon Brown” Gillian Duffy

In 2010 the then Prime Minister’s election campaign took a disastrous turn after a Labour supporter, Gillian Duffy, confronted him about his party’s plans to cut the deficit and its stance on immigration as he was interviewed live on TV in Rochdale.

Climbing into his car afterward, Brown was unaware he was still wearing his broadcast microphone and was overheard referring to Mrs Duffy as a “bigoted woman”.

‘Bigotgate will follow me for the rest of my life’

The gaffe, dubbed “Bigotgate”, cast a long shadow over the rest of his campaign. Six years on, Mrs Duffy, now aged 72, says the incident continues to haunt her.

“It will follow me for the rest of my life,” she claims, explaining she gets approached regularly by strangers curious about the encounter.

“I’ll watch game shows and they ask questions about me – ‘What was the name of the lady in Rochdale…?’ It was on The Chase!” she says incredulously.

‘I felt sorry for Gordon Brown’

Mrs Duffy has no hard feelings towards Brown, who has been urging the public to vote to stay in the EU in the upcoming referendum.

“I must admit I felt sorry for him. I did. I never had a grudge against him at all,” she says.

“I will not follow Jeremy Corbyn” Gillian Duffy The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

However, despite accepting the former Prime Minister’s apology she says she wouldn’t be keen to cross paths with him again. “I don’t want to talk to Gordon Brown,” she laughs. “Enough’s been said.”

It’s a wise move as it’s not inconceivable that they would come to blows once more – Mrs Duffy is ardently anti-EU and will be voting to exit the union.

Quit the party over Corbyn

The lifelong Labour supporter is no fan the party’s current leader. “I will not follow Jeremy Corbyn,” she declares, adding she would prefer to have seen Andy Burnham elected leader. “We’ve gone a step back,” she says.

So unimpressed was Mrs Duffy with Corbyn’s appointment, she cancelled her Labour Party membership. “I’m not a member of any party now,” she says.

@kt_grant

Postscript is a weekly column in i which revisits recent stories in the news. If you would like Katie to return to a person or story to feature in this column please write to i@inews.co.uk