Gillian Duffy, a 66 year old widow from Rochdale in the north of England lost her husband to cancer four years ago. She has a daughter and two grandchildren and it seems that, before she retired, she worked for the local council helping handicapped children. She is a core working class Labour voter who would no more consider voting Tory than fly to the moon. She spoke to Gordon Brown while he was out pressing the flesh, voiced one or two concerns and afterwards said she had been pleased with his answers and would be voting for him.

So far so good – Mrs Duffy is exactly the sort of person Brown needs to connect with to recover Labour’s position in the polls and he handled her rather well.

Then he blew the whole thing when he climbed back into his car. Not realising that his mike was still switched on he launched into an angry rant

He told an aide: “That was a disaster. Should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that?”

When the aide said they did not know who was responsible, the Prime Minister snapped: “ridiculous”.

His companion suggested that television crews who filmed the encounter, in a residential street in Rochdale, would not broadcast it.

But Mr. Brown said: “They will use it.”

The aide asked what Mrs. Duffy had said, and Mr. Brown replied: “Everything. She’s just a sort of bigoted woman who says she used to be Labour.”

What had been Mrs. Duffy’s crime? She had told him she was concerned for her grandchildren’s future over issues like the national debt, university tuition fees and the levels of immigration – and it was the remark about immigration that triggered off Brown’s rant.

For years the issue of uncontrolled immigration has been a major concern for people like Mrs. Duffy who, because they do not live in the leafy suburban enclaves inhabited by the wealthy chattering classes who dominate the world of media and politics, are the ones who have to confront daily the pressures placed on housing, schools and health services by a massive influx of immigrants both legal and illegal. But for decades the political classes of all the main parties have refused to recognise this concern as legitimate, suppressing any debate with accusations of racism and bigotry. The result? The emergence of the British National Party (BNP) as a political force to be reckoned with in certain parts of the country.

At last, realising the dangers of keeping the lid closed down on debate, politicians have started making vague noises about tougher regulation but what the Brown incident truly illustrates is the contempt that people like him feel for the ordinary folk they claim to represent. The most terrifying feature of the whole incident is the light it sheds on the moment the mask slips once a hack like Brown slips back into his protected bubble – and this poses an additional question – which is the real Mr. Brown? Is it the affable chap asking after Mrs. Duffy’s family or the bad tempered and sneering creature looking for a staffer to blame for getting him involved with the lady.

Damage limitation programmes immediately came on stream once the Labour spin doctors realised how much stuff was hitting the fan. Apologies have been profuse but in a way that merely serves to underline the extent of the hypocrisy.

The stench is overpowering…..