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Another put down for Gordon Brown while on walkabout meeting “real” people, this time from someone working at the coalface of British manufacturing.

Congratulating what appeared to be a manager at a factory in Halesowen in the West Midlands on doing so well in export markets, he was told: “Our company is doing well everywhere, but I think it is in spite of you”.

Yes indeed. What success British industry (actually this was a German owned company, but never mind) is achieving has very little to do with the government, which has woefully neglected the manufacturing sector this past 13 years, and everything to do with the ingenuity of the private sector in overcoming the obstructions the government is constantly putting in its way.

One dreads to think what Gordon had to say about this feisty female manager once returned to the privacy of his car. Suggestions, please.

Jeremy Warner
Assistant Editor
Daily Telegraph