Brown’s Burma Twitter appeal backfires
Former PM Gordon Brown’s weekend foray into coverage of the Burmese election campaign has met with scorn after the MP hijacked his wife’s Twitter account for a one day, one man campaign.
Brown wished to tap into his wife’s 1m followers at @SarahBrownUK to promote the cause with his own account languishing on 36,000 followers but some fellow Twitterers were less interested in freedom for the Burmese people and more interested in slagging off the former Labour government.
Users also criticised a lack of spontaneity in the apparently staged tweets with the politician often proving reluctant to engage with public feedback.
The 24hr appeal saw Brown launch a 9am tweet salvo in which he stated that the “web is a weapon” and urged followers to lobby the UN Secretary-General for action on Burma.
However by early afternoon Brown had moved on to less formal matters, chatting about his family lunch and passion for Raith Rovers.
Perhaps conscious of prior disastrous appearances on Youtube and Mumsnet, in which the politician was lambasted for a lack of empathy, Brown made sure to respond to one user who was dying to know what he’d eaten for breakfast. It was bacon and eggs.
Brown could count on the support of some political big hitters however, Lord Prescott signed on to lend his considerable weight behind the appeal.