Brown tells of day he invited burglar into his parents' home

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Brown tells of day he invited burglar into his parents' home

Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent
30.12.08

GORDON Brown today told how as a child he let a notorious burglar into his parents' home.

The Prime Minister said he was acting on the advice of his father John, a Presbyterian minister in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.

"Somebody came to the door and I just offered them, 'come in and have some food,'" he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It ended up my parents coming back and discovering that the most notorious burglar in the town had actually been invited in by me.

"He fortunately did not steal anything."

The Prime Minister's childhood encounter with a burglar has echoes of Oliver Letwin's decision to allow a man into his Kennington home at 5am because he wanted to go to the lavatory.

The incident, which took place when Mr Letwin was shadow home secretary, saw him chasing two men down the street in his pyjamas after they stole his wallet.

Mr Brown also spoke about his vow to oppose any new law to legalise assisted suicide.

"It is not really for us to create any legislation that would put pressure on people to feel that they had to offer themselves because they were causing trouble to a relative or anything else," he said.