Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, considers himself a failed leader

Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah

In what can be described as a frank self-assessment, former British prime minister, Gordon Brown, has declared himself a failure as a leader.

Mr Brown has admitted that he failed to rally the nation after the financial crash.  He said further that his reserved personality meant that he was not an ''ideal fit'' as a modern prime minister.  The former Labour prime minister also revealed for the first time that he feared he was going blind in his last year in office and came close to undergoing emergency surgery.

In the introduction to his memoir, My Life, Our Times, to be published next week, Mr Brown says he is ready to take stock of ''what I got wrong as well as what I hope I got right.''

''My own biggest regret was that in the greatest peacetime challenge - a catastrophic global recession - I could not persuade the British people that the progressive policies I pushed for, nationally and internationally, were the right and fairest way to respond.''


The Browns and the Bushes

''We won the battle - to escape recession.  But we lost the war - to build something better.  I fell short in communicating my ideas.  I failed to rally the nation around the necessary fiscal stimulus and my plans for radical change.''