'Hurt' Brown 'could walk away tomorrow'

“I am not interested in what accompanies being in power. I wouldn’t worry if I never returned to all those places —Downing Street, Chequers... And it would probably be good for my children,” Brown told the Guardian newspaper.

Brown, whose popularity had sunk to a record low since the MPs expenses scandal broke, said the scam was the worst in his political life. He said: “To be honest, you could walk away from all of this tomorrow.”

Brown, however, defended his leadership particularly on the economy and MPs expenses row, asserting that the Labour could win the next election, due in the next 12 months, due the action taken on the two fronts. The action the government has taken on the economy and MPs’ expenses would start to bear fruit, he said, despite the fact that his party is well behind in the opinion polls.

“People know we have made these decisions to try to sort the economy out, but they don’t yet see the results. Same thing on MPs. You are in that period between the implementation of your policy and the delivery of it,” Brown said.

In a severe challenge to Brown’s authority, several of his ministers resigned in the wake of the corruption row and the Labour party received a heavy drubbing in the recent European Parliament and English local elections. Admitting that he was ‘hurt’ by the personal attacks on him during the failed attempt to oust him this month, Brown said he had found it hard to focus on strategic planning “as you have to deal with immediate events, like if a bank’s going to go under”.

Speaking about the tumultuous past month, Brown said he “wouldn’t exaggerate how bad it has been” but admitted that it was one of the worst experiences of his political career.