From Gestapo jibe to Bigotgate: 5 very costly general election gaffes by politicians

Here we round up five of the worst calamities that have gone on to have a bearing on general election results.

We wonder if anyone will drop a clanger during the current campaign?

1945 – Winston Churchill

Sir Winston may have been voted the greatest ever Briton, but a gaffe shortly after the war may have cost him quite a few votes in a heavy election defeat to Labour’s Clement Attlee.

While his wartime credentials were second to none, Churchill’s domestic policies left a lot to be desired, as did some of his peacetime radio broadcasts.

In a grand statement to the nation during a heated campaign, the Prime Minister suggested “some form of Gestapo” would be needed to implement Labour’s unrealistic policies at home.

While this may seem like small potatoes in modern times, the comments were deemed ill-judged, sensationalist and offensive so soon after the Second World War.

1983 – Neil Kinnock

One moment haunted Neil Kinnock’s political career forever - with many arguing it ultimately cost him a pop at the top job.

While striding along the Brighton seafront with his wife Glynis on October 2, 1983, the Labour MP failed to notice an onrushing wave, lost his balance, toppled over and landed in an undignified heap with a wet bottom.

Claims that he was “out of his depth” stuck with him forever more, while a political press (far less brutal than today’s) re-played the image over and over again.

The Welshman went on to lose two elections to the Tories, in 1987 and 1992.

1993 – John Major

Why would you possibly vote for someone who considers his closest colleagues to be “bastards”?

That was essentially one of the key questions asked of the electorate by Tony Blair during his first general election campaign as leader of the Labour Party.

And the landslide victory he went on to win suggests voters couldn’t think of an answer.

It stemmed from an interview in 1993 between Tory Prime Minister John Major and ITN’s then political editor Michael Brunson.

In behaviour now synonymous with “sitting duck” Prime Ministers, Mr Major forgot to switch off his microphone following the interview’s conclusion. He then launched into an angry rant about how “three” of his own cabinet members were “bastards” who he would “crucify”, before berating party members who had dragged the party into a string of sex scandals and describing himself as a “a wimp”. Full house!

MORE GENERAL ELECTION NEWS:

2001 - Oliver Letwin

The Tories’ very own shadow chief secretary to the treasury was told to go into hiding by his own party during the 2001 election campaign following a slip of the tongue over the small matter of a few billion quid.

Letwin briefed the national press that the Conservatives planned to cut taxes by £20bn, far more than the £8bn promised by party leader William Hague.

In fact, he told the Financial Times he was “190 per cent” confident the Tories could afford additional cuts.

Furious shadow chancellor Michael Portillo was forced to reply: “The figures are not right. I have made it perfectly clear that in the first budget I am only committed to £2.2bn worth of tax cuts and that is to produce the reduction in the tax on fuel ... At the end of my second year, I will have produced £8bn of tax cuts."

However, it was too late. Labour had an absolute field day – starting by drawing up “wanted” posters for Letwin.

2010 – Gordon Brown

While canvassing in Rochdale on April 28, 2010, Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accosted in the street by 65-year-old Gillian Duffy who had nipped out to buy a loaf of bread.

Ms Duffy – direct and old fashioned, but by no means seething with anger - made some points about the nation’s debt and immigration before qualifying her remarks with the assessment that overall she thought he “was a very nice man”. Mr Brown returned the favour by calling her a bigot.

Ok, ok – so it wasn’t quite as straightforward as that. He may have made the remark in a car quite a few minutes later. And there was, again, the case of a microphone which hadn’t been switched off. So did he really deserve to have his comments broadcast on national radio? Of course he did! Not only was this the highlight of an otherwise dull campaign but it provided relentless quality entertainment for news lovers for an entire afternoon.

Mr Brown swiftly returned to Ms Duffy’s house to make a grovelling apology in her living room while Sky News waited outside for Mr Brown to re-emerge for a full 40 minutes - leaving viewers with this enduring image:

Photo: The Times