Brown weeps on television as he talks about daughter's death

London: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wept in public on Saturday when he talked of the death of his daughter Jennifer and spoke of facing up to the possible premature death of his son Fraser, who has cystic fibrosis and his hope a cure will be found.

Brown's wife Sarah, who was present, also sobbed in an extraordinary display of emotion when the Prime Minister was interviewed by Piers Morgan for a TV programme.

The candid exchanges, which took place over two-and-a-half hours in front of a live studio audience, are to be broadcast on Piers Morgan's Life Stories on ITV next Sunday. Brown told how it was he, and not his wife, who was first to realise that Jennifer was not going to survive. She died in 2002, at just 10 days old, after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

He also spoke of his agony at the knowledge that his three-year-old son Fraser may have a "poor life expectancy".

The Browns' first child Jennifer was born prematurely and weighed just a kilogramme. She died in the arms of her parents at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary. Fraser, the couple's second son, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis five months after his birth in July 2006. In the past Brown has raised hopes that despite the condition, Fraser could be "a rugby player or a football player".

Remarkable

A member of the audience said: "It was remarkable to hear Brown talk like that.

"He said he was the one who could tell Jennifer wasn't going to make it and he described how he held her tiny little hand until the very end. He was asked if he was angry about his son's illness and said: ‘We sometimes ask, why us? But we try not to be bitter.'"

During the interview, the famously reserved Brown also talked more openly than ever before about himself and his battles with his predecessor, Tony Blair.

In the frank discussion, Brown admitted he lost his temper sometimes, but denied he had ever hit any of his aides. He confirmed he had "explosive" rows with Blair.

He said Blair had secretly promised to hand over power to him — but that the timing lay with Blair.

He also revealed how he proposed to Sarah on a beach and said she was the only woman he had ever loved.

Another member of the audience said: "It was so moving, some us were close to tears as well. It was hard not to be."

— Daily Mail