Brown discusses his daughter’s death
By politics.co.uk staff
Gordon Brown has given a remarkably private interview, discussing his daughter’s death and his relationship with his wife.
“It changes your life forever, it makes you feel the value of time,” he said of the death of his premature baby daughter eight years ago.
The topic of death came up repeatedly as Mr Brown was reminded of the row which followed his misspelt letter of condolence to a bereaved mother whose son had died in Afghanistan.
“There is a finality about death and if someone loses someone that is close to them you are never the same again,” he told the Evening Standard.
“You cannot be the same person as you were before, particularly if that someone is young or, in our case, a child.
“You are always thinking of what could have been. Every year you are thinking of that daughter who was about to go to school or about to write for the first time, about to read, go to their first film or party, be a teenager,” he continued.
“It changes your life forever. It makes you feel the value of time.”
Mr Brown also praised his wife, Sarah, who he described as his hero.
The interview marks a distinct change of tack for Mr Brown, who was previously obsessed with maintaining the privacy of his family.
Contrary to David Cameron, who was criticised in some quarters for allowing his children and home relations to be put on film, Mr Brown’s children are rarely, if ever, seen.
But with this revealing interview and his upcoming one-hour with Piers Morgan on Valentine’s Day on ITV, the prime minister appears intent on showing his softer side to the world.
