Brown's Bullying Could Cost Labour

A new book which reports claims that British PM Gordon Brown was abusive and bullying towards staff members will only make Labour's bid to retain the House of Commons more of a challenge.

On a day on which the Sunday Times published a YouGov poll revealing that the gap between Labour and the Tories has shrunk to six points -- the narrowest margin in more than a year -- a new revelation completely rendered this ever so rare piece of good news for post Blair-Labour obsolete.

The news? Gordon Brown is mean. Yep. A new book by The Observer's Andrew Rawnsley released today claims that Gordon Brown has himself a bit of a temper.  The book reports that Brown's treatment of those around him was so bad that Sir Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, personally launched investigations into Brown's bullying and subsequently warned the Prime Minister about his behavior. In fact, The Times reports that the behavior was so bad that several of Brown's employees had to call an anti-bullying hotline.

This is only a tidbit from a book that generally paints Brown in an extremely poor light. Any chance that Labour had recently made for itself was likely obliterated today by the news that Brown, who doesn't exactly ooze charisma, is so mean that his employees felt compelled to call hotlines to seek emotional help. After today's revelations, it is virtually unfathomable that a Brown-led Labour can retain control of the House of Commons whenever Brown finally calls for an election.