LONDON — Let down by his own bad handwriting, Prime Minister Gordon Brown found himself apologizing yet again Tuesday to a woman whose name he misspelled in a condolence letter over the death of her son in Afghanistan.
Jacqui Janes’ son was killed last month. The missive, in Brown’s untidy scrawl, was addressed to “Mrs. James.” Her son Jamie’s name appeared to be misspelled. Janes gave the letter to the Sun tabloid, which published it Monday under the headline “Bloody shameful.”
Fuel was added to the fire when Brown telephoned Janes late Sunday to apologize. Janes recorded the call, and Brown sounded flustered as the conversation morphed into an extraordinary dressing-down of the prime minister.
“How would you like it if one of your children, God forbid, went to a war . . . and because of a lack — lack — of helicopters, lack of equipment, your child bled to death?”
