Premiership of Gordon Brown do so. The election campaign saw the UK's first televised debates between the leaders of the three main parties. While Cameron and Clegg were generally perceived to have performed well in these, Brown was perceived to have done less well. Brown also attracted criticism from the media after privately describing a 65-year-old pensioner as a "bigoted woman" after she stated that entitled people were not receiving benefits because non-entitled people are receiving them. She also expressed her displeasure at immigration from Eastern Europe. His remarkssaid on 28 April whilst in a car with his staffwere picked up by a Sky
Michelle Brown a recording of a telephone conversation emerged, in which Brown was heard describing the Labour MP for Streatham, Chuka Umunna, as a "fucking coconut". The call was recorded in May 2016 to her then senior adviser Nigel Williams, whom she sacked later that month. Brown said her language was "inappropriate" and apologised, although also stating that she "was using language that friends and colleagues often do when chatting to each other". However, Brown stated that she stood by her comments that Umunna had "as much understanding of an ordinary black man’s experience as I have". Brown was also recorded referring