British prime minister Gordon Brown apologised in person for describing a voter as "a bigoted woman" today, seeking to limit the damage from the gaffe before next week's parliamentary election.
Campaigning for the May 6th election, Mr Brown made the unguarded comment about 66-year-old Labour supporter Gillian Duffy after getting back into his car after a campaign stop in northern England. The remark was picked up by a lapel microphone he was wearing.
"That was a disaster," Mr Brown was heard saying as he got into a car after speaking to Ms Duffy, not realising his microphone was still on. "Whose idea was that? It's ridiculous."
When asked what the voter had said, Mr Brown said: "Everything, she's just sort of a bigoted woman."
Mr Brown later visited Duffy in her own home to apologise.
"Sometimes you do make mistakes and you use wrong words, and once you've used that word and you've made a mistake, you should withdraw it and say profound apologies, and that's what I've done," he said, after spending more than 30 minutes in the grandmother's modest home in the town of Rochdale.
Mr Brown was shown on television with his head in his hands as the comments were replayed to him during an interview with the BBC.
The furore - a rare unscripted moment in a highly choreographed campaign - may undermine his attempts to reclaim lost ground tomorrow in the last of three televised leaders' debates which will focus on the economy, seen as Mr Brown's strongest card.
Labour, which has closed the Conservatives' lead in the opinion polls in recent months, had high hopes for this week's campaigning, and so far Mr Brown's performances in the TV debates - which have dominated campaigns - have not drawn plaudits.
Ms Duffy had asked Mr Brown how he would tackle the country's record deficit as well as other issues ranging from east European immigration to pensions, university tuition fees and anti-social behaviour.
Mr Brown's Labour party, in power for 13 years but trailing in opinion polls, had already been on the defensive after opposition parties said the Greek financial crisis was an example of what could happen if Britain's record budget deficit was not tackled.
Opinion polls today continued to point to a hung parliament, in which no one party wins an overall majority. But they showed the Conservatives and Labour had regained some ground from the Liberal Democrats, the traditional third party in British politics, who have enjoyed a strong ratings boost since the first TV leaders' debate and turned the contest into a three-horse race.
Reuters