Gordon Brown has telephoned a bereaved mother to apologise after apparently misspelling the name of her dead soldier son in a letter of sympathy. Guardsman Jamie Janes, 20, from Brighton, East Sussex, was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan in October.
In a video distributed by the Sun newspaper, his mother Jacqui called the letter a "hastily scrawled insult".
But Mr Brown said he was sorry "for any unintended mistake", adding that his writing could be "difficult to read".
<!-- E SF -->Guardsman Janes, of 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards, was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol in Helmand province. 'Personal sadness'
According to the Sun, his mother Jacqui was angry when she received the prime minister's letter of condolence in which he appeared to misspell Guardsman Janes's name as "James".
The paper has reproduced the handwritten letter.
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The prime minister has previously admitted problems with his eyesight after a childhood rugby injury.
In a statement, he said: "I take very seriously my responsibility to the bereaved.
"Every time I write a letter to mothers and fathers and partners who have suffered bereavement to express my sincere condolences, it is a moment of personal sadness to me. And I am in awe of the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women of our armed forces.
"I send a handwritten letter to every family and I often write to more than one member of the family.
"I have telephoned Jacqui Janes to apologise for any unintended mistake in the letter.
"To all other families whom I have written to, I can only apologise if my handwriting is difficult to read.
"I have at all times acted in good faith seeking to do the right thing. I do not think anyone will believe that I write letters with any intent to cause offence." 'Debt of gratitude'
But Mrs Janes told the Sun that the letter had been "scrawled so quickly I could hardly even read it" and that "some of the words were half-finished".
She described it as "disrespectful" and an "insult" to her son.
In a statement, Downing Street said the prime minister took a great deal of time writing to bereaved relatives.
It added: "The reason he personally writes to every family is to acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed by the country to those who have died to protect the people of Britain."
Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC: "I think anyone who sees Mrs Janes's upset will very much regret what she is feeling.
"And I'm sure the prime minister will feel that he intended to offer her some little comfort at the most difficult time for her.
"I'm sure he will be very upset himself at the upset she's feeling."
It is official policy for the prime minister to write to the families of all service personnel killed in action while on operational duties.
According to Ministry of Defence guidelines published on the Parliament website, the letter is drafted by military officials and should ideally be sent within two working days of the death being announced.
The defence secretary writes to the families of members of the armed forces who die in service although not on operations.
So what do you think? Do you think its insulting that he made mistakes in the letter, or do you think its an overreaction from Mrs Janes?
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
I would say it is an over-reaction from a grieving mother. Gordon Brown doesn't have to write to the families, and he is an exceptionally busy man. If I was sending out letters to them they probably couldn't read my hand-writing either. Would they rather is was a typed up, impersonal mail-shot?
So he should apologies a mistake like that in a letter of such magnitude should be flawless. She has every right to be angry at the mistake she has lost her son and a letter in which his name is spelt wrong makes it look like he doesn't really care about the death at all.
You would think if he knows his writing is hard to read he would type it up or even use one these people he has working for him type it and spell check it.
He is a disgrace and mistakes like this should never happen from the PM epically when he is writing to a grieving family/
I agree that if it is a letter to a grieving mother then it should have been checked and read over for spelling mistakes and the like however, he does not have to write to parents over these issues and he is getting enough stick as it is from everyone, so just give him a break I say. He is doing his best and at least he is trying.
I think if he typed them out people would say they were 'cold' and 'impersonal'. Personally, although I agree that it was awful that he made some mistakes in the letter, I think its an overreaction from the mother, 'James' and 'Janes' are pretty similar and I think his eyesight does need to be taken into account.
Im glad that Gordon Brown will continue to write letters to families of fallen soldiers, however I hope this doesnt start a trend of people going to the newspapers about it. As for it being 'scrawled' Ive seen loads of handwriting like that. He may well of been told that the surname was 'James' as well.
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
The article say's "problems with his eyesight", which makes it sounds like maybe he needs new specs, when in fact he's blind in one eye and it was recently reported he's got a damaged retina in the other eye. As people have said typed is cold and impersonal. Also bad handwriting doesn't mean you don't care, GP's are a case in point, they're handwriting is renowned for being nearly illegible, but that doesn't mean they aren't dedicated and care for their patients, some people just have scruffy handwriting.
I don't think this mother is in the wrong though, I think she probably has every right to be angry at the government, as they certainly do seem to be treating their troops badly with regards to safety equipment etc. I think her targeting his handwriting is probably her aiming her anger misguidedly.
The article say's "problems with his eyesight", which makes it sounds like maybe he needs new specs, when in fact he's blind in one eye and it was recently reported he's got a damaged retina in the other eye. As people have said typed is cold and impersonal. Also bad handwriting doesn't mean you don't care, GP's are a case in point, they're handwriting is renowned for being nearly illegible, but that doesn't mean they aren't dedicated and care for their patients, some people just have scruffy handwriting.
I don't think this mother is in the wrong though, I think she probably has every right to be angry at the government, as they certainly do seem to be treating their troops badly with regards to safety equipment etc. I think her targeting his handwriting is probably her aiming her anger misguidedly.
It does seem a bit of a no-win situation for Gordon Brown - good on him for writing personally instead of getting someone to type it up then just sign it along with a pile of other papers. Bad hand-writing & eye problems doesn't mean he doesn't care.
I can understand why a mother who's lost her son would want to hit back at the government somehow.
I think she is blowing this waaay out of proportion. She needs to get over and stop worrying about tiny insignificant things, like someone mis-spelling a name, and start worrying about bigger things. Like the death of her son.
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It's not just her that is upset by Brown spelling his name wrong. I heard 2 people who knew him discussing it today and they weren't happy with it either and said the whole letter was full of spelling mistakes.
Brown definately shouldn't type them, I think he would get too much stick for that. However, like others have said the letters should be double, if not triple, checked for spelling mistakes and to make sure it is actually readable. Yes, it could simply be his hand writing is messy and he might have bad eye sight but surely they're just even more reasons why at least one other person should be reading the letter before it was sent out?
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
If he stopped writing he would get grief, but if he makes a spelling mistake he gets grief. He apologised - shouldnt that be the end of it?
At the end of the day - hes our prime minister - he could be doing a million other things, but he does take the time to read that.
Fair enough he made a spelling mistake - but he has apologised for it .
And also everything Heidi said =P
Sarah: Give me the child.
Jareth: Sarah beware. I have been generous up till now. I can be cruel.
Sarah: Generous? What have you done that's generous?
Jareth: Everything! Everything you have wanted I have done. You asked the child be taken, I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?
Then today she went on a completely different tangent about how the army doesnt have enough equipment, which is true, but completely different to what she was complaining about. She was practically blaming him personally on the phone for her son dying....
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
He got back to the army hospital before he died and even he had been in the UK and suffered them injuries he would die. It took an hour to get him back to medical care. which to be honest isn't bad for a war zone. I think she is just angry and wants to blame her sons death on anything.
The article say's "problems with his eyesight", which makes it sounds like maybe he needs new specs, when in fact he's blind in one eye and it was recently reported he's got a damaged retina in the other eye. As people have said typed is cold and impersonal. Also bad handwriting doesn't mean you don't care, GP's are a case in point, they're handwriting is renowned for being nearly illegible, but that doesn't mean they aren't dedicated and care for their patients, some people just have scruffy handwriting.
I don't think this mother is in the wrong though, I think she probably has every right to be angry at the government, as they certainly do seem to be treating their troops badly with regards to safety equipment etc. I think her targeting his handwriting is probably her aiming her anger misguidedly.
The problem with war is that everybody tries to blame everybody else for the awful things that happen. Nobody ever wants to take responsibility. I'm not sure her fuss over the mis-spelling is really about spelling at all - she just has to direct her grief somewhere, and try and feel like she has some control over her life which has just fallen apart. Trust the Sun to make things 10 times worse, though.
The Sun are going to get as much out of the story as they can, because they've decided to stop being on Labour's side - the headline 'Labour's lost it' a few weeks ago springs to mind.
The Sun basically want to get at Gordon Brown and the Labour Party so they picked up on the woman's (can't remember her name) story and twisted everything Gordon Brown said.
I don't even like Gordon Brown, but sometimes the papers go too far.
Also, I understand why the mother did it - I mean, she wants someone to blame doesn't she? People always want someone to blame, someone they can just have a go at to get some of their anger and hurt out. Gordon Brown was just unlucky that it was him.
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"we could mix all three, the two gendered and the one non-gendered, "she", "he", and "it", to make "shi...". No, nevermind, that won't work either..."
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I do not think anyone will believe that I write letters with any intent to cause offence 
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