UK Prime Minister Brown calls voter ‘bigoted woman’ _ soundbite that could haunt his campaign

In UK election gaffe, Brown calls voter ‘bigoted’

LONDON — A British voter has demanded an apology from Prime Minister Gordon Brown after he was caught on an open microphone calling her “a bigoted woman.”

Brown was heard criticizing Gillian Duffy after he left a campaign stop in Rochdale in northern England, where he had spoken with her about pension rates and immigration.

The British leader said he was unaware that a television microphone was still live. Asked by an aide about his conversation, Brown said “she was just a bigoted woman.” He suggested Duffy had questioned the number of eastern European migrants in Britain.

Duffy then asked for an apology from Brown and said she would no longer vote for his Labour Party in Britain’s May 6 election.

Brown later apologized “profusely.”