Brown criticises 'crude' personal attacks

Friday, 3 July 2009 12:00 AM

By Alice Cannet

Gordon Brown has condemned the personal attacks which have become common practice among politicians.

The statement came in the middle of the ongoing debate about public spending, where David Cameron has accused Mr Brown of misleading the public.

But Mr Brown said people should "think twice" before blaming him, pointing out he had personally avoided taking part in personal attacks during his career.

The Tories have blamed the government for several U-turns on reforms, included the recent backtracking on the Iraq inquiry and the retreat on Royal Mail.

But it is the row over debt levels which pushed the Tory leader to enter the personal realm and accuse Downing Street of being on a "thread of dishonesty".

In a speech in Yorkshire, Mr Cameron argued the public wanted more transparency, saying it is "not leadership to deny that our public finances are in a crisis... not leadership to say that spending on public services is going to rise when it is not"

Instead the public was desperate for "political leadership that is clear about the depth of the problems we face".

But Mr Brown fought back the accusations, speaking to the BBC on a tour of the North East, he said: "I think if someone is called dishonest, there is an assumption that there is some willful desire to mislead and there is some corruption involved and I don't think that is the case."

"There is a crudity developed in the language people use in politics that people are now accepting as almost everyday language, to accuse people of this or that.

"I do not make personal attacks on people. I have tried to avoid doing that during my political career."

But to add to Brown's woes, the Lib Dems joined in the claims that the prime minister was dishonest about the state of the country's finance.

David Laws, Lib Dem schools spokesman told the BBC that Brown was "patently not" being truthful on the subject of spending and that the government was in a "state of complete denial".

Jack Straw denied that the government was losing authority following its recent U-turns, saying: "What we are doing is obviously listening very carefully but also taking account of changed circumstances."

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