**Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg are preparing for the third and final prime ministerial debate.**But the Labour leader’s preparations have been overshadowed by the fall out and negative headlines after he called a pensioner he had met “bigoted”.
He has been to Gillian Duffy’s house in Rochdale to apologise for his comment, which was caught on a microphone.
The BBC’s Nick Robinson said Mr Brown would be keen to move on and focus on the economy ahead of the BBC debate.
The BBC political editor said it was impossible to say what impact the incident with Mrs Duffy would have on voters, but with Labour trailing in the polls, he added, every day left in the campaign needed to be a good day for Mr Brown and Wednesday clearly was not.
‘Disaster’
The party leaders are expected to spend much of the day in Birmingham preparing for the debate, which will focus on the economy and is being screened on BBC One at 2030 BST.
Conservative leader David Cameron is to visit a hospital and discuss his party’s plans to create a £200m cancer drugs fund, while Nick Clegg is to focus on Liberal Democrat plans to help older people.
Anticipating the debate, Mr Brown told activists: “You have seen me in one context on the TV [today]. I hope [tomorrow] you see once more someone not just proud to be your leader but also someone who understands the economic challenges we face.”
Several newspapers have described Mr Brown’s encounter with Mrs Duffy, a life-long Labour supporter, as a “day of disaster” after she challenged him on issues including immigration from eastern Europe and the national debt.
After the encounter and while he was off-camera, but still wearing a broadcast microphone, Mr Brown was heard to tell an aide that the meeting “was a disaster” and to question Mrs Duffy’s views.
Mr Brown later went to the pensioner’s house to apologise in person and emerged to say that he had made a mistake and “misunderstood” some of the words she had used.
Describing himself as a “penitent sinner”, he said “sometimes you say things you don’t mean to say, sometimes you say things by mistake and sometimes when you say things you’ll want to correct them very quickly”.
Mrs Duffy has not made any public comment since Mr Brown’s 40-minute visit to her home although it is reported she is being advised by a public relations firm.
‘Heartfelt apology’
When she was first told about Mr Brown’s comments, Mrs Duffy said she was “very upset” as she had only asked questions which “anyone would ask”.
She also suggested she would not vote Labour as she had previously intended.
Mr Brown sought to limit the political damage by making a fuller apology to Labour members.
In an e-mail, he said he regretted the “hurt” he had caused Mrs Duffy who he said was “the kind of person I came into politics to help”.
Senior Labour figures have acknowledged the incident was a setback for Labour, coming eight days before the 6 May election, but stressed Mr Brown did not mean what he said and wished he had not said it.
Deputy leader Harriet Harman told the BBC Mr Brown was feeling “very dismayed” about what happened by said he had made a “heartfelt apology”.
The opposition parties have refrained from commenting on the episode in detail, the Conservatives saying it spoke for itself and the Lib Dems saying Mr Brown had been right to apologise.
But former Conservative leader Michael Howard told the BBC’s Campaign Show it was damaging for Labour as it showed they could not accept any legitimate criticism over immigration policy.
Ex-Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy said “in the minds of some it will do damage” to Mr Brown but he thought attention would quickly move on to Thursday’s debate.
The latest polls - carried out before Wednesday’s encounter - continue to suggest a hung Parliament remains a possibility.
A Comres poll for the Independent/ITV News put the Conservatives up three points on 36%, Labour unchanged on 29% and the Lib Dems down three at 26%. A YouGov poll for the Sun, meanwhile, puts the Tories up a point on 34%, the Lib Dems up three points on 31% and Labour down two points to 27%.
• ***The final Prime Ministerial Debate will be shown live on BBC One from 2030 BST on Thursday.***This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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