London: Britain's former defence secretary
John Hutton has acknowledged he had launched an
expletive-ridden attack on Gordon Brown's ability to be the
Prime Minister.
The former defence secretary owned up to telling BBC
political editor Nick Robinson in September 2006 that "it
would be an absolute ****ing disaster' if Gordon Brown was PM,
and I'll do anything in my power to ****ing stop him."
During an interview on Radio 4's PM programme recently,
Hutton admitted that he made the comment on September 7, 2006,
after Brownites forced Tony Blair to announce that he would
step down as Labour leader within a year, Daily Mail reported.
Hutton was challenged on the quote during the interview
and after attempting to dodge the question, he admitted: "I
did say it. Yes I did. Yeah. Let's just get that over with."
He said his criticism had come at a "time of high
emotion" and that he had changed his opinion about the Prime
Minister and now he believes Brown puts his "heart and soul"
into his job.
"Gordon has not been a disaster. He has put his heart
and soul into the job, and he is doing everything he can for
the country at a time of difficulty," Hutton told Radio 4.
It had been an open secret in Westminster that the
normally-mild mannered former Cabinet minister had made the
explosive comments.
Despite the outburst, Hutton stayed in the Cabinet when
Brown took over. He stepped down on June 5 this year as part
of a cabinet reshuffle.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 16:25