Brown apologises for his handwriting

Tue Nov 10 2009 11:47:54

Gordon Brown has apologised once again to the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan after she accused him of spelling her name wrong.

Jacqui Janes had criticised the Prime Minister's hand-written letter of condolence in which he appeared to make several errors.

At Mr Brown's regular press conference he said: "I apologised to Jacqui Janes yesterday for any mistakes that had been made. I also said to anybody whom I have written to, if my writing is difficult to read, I apologise for that."

Jacqui Janes, whose son Jamie was killed in Afghanistan, also confronted him during a phone call over a lack of equipment for troops.

In the 13-minute telephone exchange, she told him that her son Jamie could have survived his injuries but bled to death.

According to a transcript in the Sun newspaper, she said "Mr Brown, listen to me, I know every injury my child sustained that day. I know that my son could have survived but my son bled to death."

He denied spelling Mrs Janes' son's name wrong in the letter, and blamed his poor handwriting rather than his spelling. But she told him: "I beg to differ."

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