The aide asks what the woman later revealed as

The aide asks what the woman later revealed as 65-year-old Gillian Duffy said vag com to him. Oh everything, answered the peevish Prime Minister. She was just a sort of bigoted woman. She said she used be Labour. I mean it s just ridiculous.
The Labour activist, a one-time supporter of Brown, had no doubt how toxic the gaffe was, and for a number of different reasons. Heres one of them. Party spin doctors have been keenly aware that the PM isnt necessarily an electoral asset, and had limited his public appearances lexia 3 to the televised leaders debates and carefully choreographed events attended by the party faithful. Browns low profile was so noticeable that observers began to joke about him as Labours secret weapon. A change of campaign tactic augured a higher quotient of Brown and a greater exposure to actual voters. After todays blooper, the spin doctors may be thinking again.
Rochdale resident Duffy had indeed used an unfortunate phrase when she first spoke to Brown, referring to Eastern Europeansflocking in. But her concern about immigration is widely shared and has helped to erode support for Labour in the partys traditional blue-collar heartlands, where competition for jobs and housing has been exploited by parties with strong anti-immigration messages. In Rochdale both the Euroskeptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the far right National Front are challenging the Labour incumbent.
But the biggest threat to Labour retaining Rochdale in the May 6 elections comes not from the right but from the newly buoyant Liberal Democrats. Rochdale is one of the partys top target seats, and with the Lib Dems, until recently Britains third party, now running ahead of Labour in some polls, Browns visit to Rochdale was intended to shore up the vital Labour vote. Oops.
A poll due to be unveiled later this evening will show the Conservatives extending their lead, with Labour second and the Lib Dems third. This was taken after the Conservatives ran campaign