Gordon' Brown's Ally MacLeod moment

Oh Gordon
Some people are calling Gordon Brown's off-mike comments a classic In the Thick of It moment.

I think these images of Brown, head in hand as he heard his own insults being played back to him, are more like Ally MacLeod's Argentina '78 moment when in dawned on the Scotland manager that his campaign was falling apart. But that was only a football game.

Talking off-mike is a common political crime but this one is a disaster in two ways. It crystalises the image of Gordon Brown as being short-tempered and two-faced, but worse than that insulting a natural Labour voter in a working class area of Rochdale is excruciatingly bad politics.

Brown will be beating himself up badly over this, but, hey at least he didn't swear or punch the car seat.

Is it is a turning point in the campaign that today was about shoring up the core Labour vote? If so, there is no point in blaming "Sue" or anyone else except Gordon Brown.