Is Gordon Brown going blind?
As if he didn't have enough on his plate, Gordon Brown is said to be having increasing problems with his eyesight. Close friends of the Prime Minister say that he can now only see extremely large print and has needed guidance at public events.
The PM, who lost the sight of eye in a rugby accident at the age of 16, is said to be suffering increasing problems with the other eye and recently had to have a cataract removed. In an interview, Brown said he had "enough" sight but admitted: "It does mean when you're speaking to an audience you automatically tend to correct [which direction to look in] so you've got to be careful. If you're reading something you have to look slightly to the side."
Insiders have revealed that Brown's memos are in huge print and triple spaced while his own handwriting is getting larger. One said: "If I want him to reply to an email, I always make sure it's in at least 36 point [12 point is the norm]."
There is also mounting anecdotal evidence that Brown’s eyesight is becoming a serious disability. Last month, it was revealed that he had been missing his notes and daubing black ink all over the Commons dispatch box during Prime Ministers' Questions. Aides have also revealed that when he was about to meet a line-up of war veterans recently, the former minister John Reid had to be moved out of the way because Brown "would have confused him with a veteran.”
A friend of the PM said: "You can't understand Gordon if you don't understand his fear that he could go blind at any moment.”
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