Those are the paraphrased words of Falklands war veteran Simon Weston in response to the Gordon Brown letter saga, the sentiment of which I couldn’t agree with more.
So the situation is this: Gordon Brown pens a letter to the mother of a soldier recently killed in Afghanistan. This isn’t a letter that one of his people have drafted for him to merely sign, it’s one he’s taken the time to write by hand.
This tells me two things: firstly, aside from any wider decisions to continue with a military campaign in Afghanistan or any decisions (or lack of) on equipment and resources, he feels a personal sense of responsibility over what’s happened. Secondly, that sense of responsibility extends to taking time out of his day, time precious in the extreme as Prime Minister, to write a letter.
However, the letter was a bit sloppy in its presentation – as many of us have seen on TV, online or in the papers.
So, Mrs Janes receives the letter and is outraged. I would imagine she’s feeling a painful mix of raw and intense emotions right now, so unsurprising that she reacted.
But then The Sun got involved. The paper that just a few weeks ago decided it didn’t support Gordon Brown or the Labour Party any more. Cue a most disgraceful act of opportunism by publicising the letter in the way they did.
Gordon’s immediate response? – phone Mrs Janes and apologise.
I’m really pleased that the reaction of many people is in support of Gordon Brown, as I would despair if he thought he couldn’t or shouldn’t shoulder the responsibility for life lost as a result of our military interventions.
I feel very sorry for Mrs Janes. I feel sorry for two reasons: firstly, and by far most importantly, for the terrible loss of her son. The other reason I feel sorry for her is the way The Sun has manipulated her and this story into something it’s not.
We need to take stock of what’s really important here.
