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UK Brown rejects doubts over his health

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-28 10:11

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown listens on stage during the annual Labour Party Conference in Brighton in south England September 27, 2009. [Agencies]

LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown denied on Sunday political gossip that he is taking prescription painkillers or pills and said he was fit enough to lead the country.

In a BBC television interview to mark the start of his ruling Labour Party's annual conference, Brown was asked about rumours in Westminster that he was someone who takes "prescription painkillers and pills to help them get through".

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"No, this is the sort of questioning that is all too often entering the lexicon of British politics," Brown replied.

"When people ask questions about these things, particularly about my eyesight, I feel that I have done everything to show people that I can do the job even with the handicap that I have had as a result of a rugby injury."

Brown lost the sight in one eye after an accident playing rugby as a teenager and had a series of operations to save the sight in the other eye.

The former finance minister, trailing the Conservatives in polls before an election due by next June, has faced repeated questions about his health in recent weeks.

Political gossip websites and newspaper diarists began running unsourced and unconfirmed stories about Brown's health earlier this month, but the BBC interview was the first time he had been publicly asked about prescription drugs.

Asked by reporters about his general health last week, Brown said he was "healthy and very fit" and regularly goes running.

An NBC reporter asked Brown during a television interview during a trip to New York last week whether he was slowly losing his sight in his other eye. Brown replied: "My sight is not at all deteriorating."

Former interior minister Charles Clarke fuelled speculation about Brown's health when he was asked by the London Evening Standard newspaper last week whether Brown might cite poor health as a reason to leave office before the election.

"I don't think Gordon will lead Labour into the next election. I think his own dignity ought to look to that kind of solution," Clarke was quoted as saying. Clarke later told Reuters he was not aware that Brown had any health problems.