Tories ridicule 'Heathcliff' Brown

Updated 16.26 Thu Jul 10 2008

Keywords: Tony Blair, David Cameron, YouTube, Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown's comparison of himself with Charlotte Brontë's Heathcliff was lampooned by the Tories.

The Prime Minister was compared in a recent interview with the Wuthering Heights anti-hero and appeared to revel in it, insisting it was "absolutely correct".

"That's a great question" - Gordon Brown's reply to one YouTube viewer who asked why he should be Prime Minister.

He added: "Well, maybe an older Heathcliff, a wiser Heathcliff."

But Conservative MPs in the House of Commons pointed out the literary figure was prone to "domestic violence, kidnapping and possibly murder".

Shadow Commons leader Theresa May demanded the Prime Minister make a statement to MPs about which of Heathcliff's darker characteristics matched his own after a Bronte expert questioned the Premier's choice.

She quoted the expert, who highlighted Heathcliff's actions in digging up his dead lover and his cruelty to animals.

Ms May asked: "I imagine that most people would be disturbed by this comparison as indeed was Andrew McCarthy of the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Yorkshire who explained that 'Heathcliff is a man prone to domestic violence, kidnapping, possibly murder and digging up his dead lover. He is moody and unkind to animals.'

"Can the Prime Minister make a statement explaining which of these characteristics is most like him?"

But Ms Harman refused to rise to the challenge and did not answer the question from Ms May.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been bidding to boost his battered image by speading his message on YouTube.

Mr Brown has fielded his first batch of questions on No 10's own channel on the video-sharing website. They cover topics from knife crime to road tax.

Asked by one young man why he should be in the top job, he replied it was a "great question".

He added he wanted everyone in the country to be able to realise their potential to the full.

A search for Gordon Brown on the YouTube website produces some 3,000 results, many far from flattering. Among the favourites is a video of him picking his nose while Mr Blair was delivering Prime Minister's questions in 2007.