Quote: The grandmother called a bigot by Gordon Brown says she has thrown away her postal vote because she was so insulted by the Prime Minister's remarks.
Lifelong Labour supporter Gillian Duffy has told the Mail on Sunday she will not back any party in Thursday's General Election.
The 66-year-old was thrust into the media spotlight when she encountered Mr Brown on the campaign trail and quizzed him on policies including immigration.
After their conversation, the Prime Minister forgot to remove his TV microphone as he was driven away in his Jaguar.
He was recorded criticising aides for allowing Mrs Duffy to speak to him and referred to her as a "bigoted woman".
Mr Brown later spent more than 40 minutes at the pensioner's Rochdale home trying to make amends.
Exiting Mrs Duffy's house alone, the PM told waiting reporters he was a "penitent sinner".
"He wanted me to go outside with him shake hands in front of all the cameras but I didn't want that fuss," Mrs Duffy told the paper, "It was too soon."
She went on: "The Labour party is just a big machine with spin doctors doing everything to try to get him back in."
Mrs Duffy said it was not Mr Brown's "bigot" remark that hurt her most but being called "that woman".
"It's no way to talk of someone that is it?" she asked.
"As if I'm to be brushed away. Why couldn't he have said, 'that lady?'," she said.
She said the Prime Minister has invited her to Downing Street but doubts he will be in office long enough to honour the offer.
"He asked, 'Do you ever come down to London? If you ever come down you must come to No10 and meet me and Sarah.'
The grandmother called a bigot by Gordon Brown says she has thrown away her postal vote because she was so insulted by the Prime Minister's remarks.
Lifelong Labour supporter Gillian Duffy has told the Mail on Sunday she will not back any party in Thursday's General Election.
The 66-year-old was thrust into the media spotlight when she encountered Mr Brown on the campaign trail and quizzed him on policies including immigration.
After their conversation, the Prime Minister forgot to remove his TV microphone as he was driven away in his Jaguar.
He was recorded criticising aides for allowing Mrs Duffy to speak to him and referred to her as a "bigoted woman".
Mr Brown later spent more than 40 minutes at the pensioner's Rochdale home trying to make amends.
Exiting Mrs Duffy's house alone, the PM told waiting reporters he was a "penitent sinner".
Gordon Brown
Gillian Duffy refused to face the cameras on her doorstep
"He wanted me to go outside with him shake hands in front of all the cameras but I didn't want that fuss," Mrs Duffy told the paper, "It was too soon."
She went on: "The Labour party is just a big machine with spin doctors doing everything to try to get him back in."
Mrs Duffy said it was not Mr Brown's "bigot" remark that hurt her most but being called "that woman".
"It's no way to talk of someone that is it?" she asked.
"As if I'm to be brushed away. Why couldn't he have said, 'that lady?'," she said.
She said the Prime Minister has invited her to Downing Street but doubts he will be in office long enough to honour the offer.
"He asked, 'Do you ever come down to London? If you ever come down you must come to No10 and meet me and Sarah.'
Pensioner Upset After PM's Gaffe
"Well, I just looked at him. I didn't like to say it, but all I could think was 'I don't think you'll be there'."
Mr Brown's wife Sarah has said her husband will "forever regret" what he said about Mrs Duffy.
"I wasn't with Gordon at the time but I could tell from the tone of his voice when he called me that he'd done something he felt mortified about," she wrote in the Sunday Mirror.
"If there's one thing everyone who knows him agrees on about Gordon, it's that he simply hates upsetting people.
"The idea that somebody would have been caused pain or embarrassment by something he had done is the sort of thing that goes right to the core of Gordon and I know that his apology came straight from his heart," she added. |