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Outrage of bereaved mother at Brown's misspelled letter

Jenny Booth

The mother of a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan has accused Gordon Brown of disrespecting her son’s memory by misspelling their surname in a letter of condolence.

Jacqui Janes, whose son Jamie, 20, of the 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards, was killed by an explosion on October 5, received a hand-written note from Mr Brown, which began: “Dear Mrs James”.

After reading reports of her outrage, Mr Brown personally contacted Mrs Janes this morning to assure her that he had not meant any disrespect and had no intention of causing offence, Downing Street said today.

Mrs Janes, whose Grenadier Guardsman son was aged 20 when he was killed by an explosion on October 5, received a hand-written note from Mr Brown, which began: "Dear Mrs James".


Mrs Janes, 47, told the Sun newspaper: "He couldn’t even be bothered to get our family name right. That made me so angry.

"Then I saw he had scribbled out a mistake in Jamie’s name.

"The very least I would expect from Gordon Brown is to get his name right. The letter was scrawled so quickly I could hardly even read it and some of the words were half-finished. It’s just disrespectful."

In total, said Mrs Janes, there were 20 mistakes in the letter, which was only four sentences long.

"In the days after Jamie's death I got letters from Prince Philip, Buckingham Palace, the Defence Secretary and his regiment. They were all written from the heart and made me feel Jamie's death was important to them," she added.

"Then I got Gordon Brown's. I only got through the first four lines before I threw it across the room in disgust."

A spokesman for No10 said the Prime Minister had spoken to Mrs Janes this morning and assured her that he did not intend any offence when he spelt her son's name wrongly.

“As soon as the Prime Minister was told about this he personally contacted the mother to make absolutely clear that he never meant any offence and to underline his deepest sympathy for her, his complete admiration and thanks for the bravery and sacrifice of her son and he said he would do whatever he could to help her at this most difficult of times,” the Downing Street spokesman said.

Earlier, Downing Street insisted that the Prime Minister took a great deal of time writing letters of condolences.

"The reason he personally writes to every family is to acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed by the country to those who have died to protect the people of Britain. He would never knowingly misspell anyone’s name."

Asked about the controversy, Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, told the BBC that Mr Brown would be horrified at having caused offence.

"I think anyone who sees Mrs Janes's upset will very much regret what she is feeling," said Mr Miliband.

"And I'm sure the Prime Minister will feel that he intended to offer her some little comfort at the most difficult time for her. I'm sure he will be very upset himself at the upset she's feeling."

The Prime Minister also angered some veterans by failing to bow his head as he laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Remembrance Sunday.

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