Gordon Brown's Andrew Marr interview on Sunday - the health bit

The above is the 'health question' extract.

This is what I blogged on Sunday and note that the video shows that Gordon Brown, despite his claim, did not answer the question about painkillers or "pills to help them get through".

The transcript of the interview can be found here. Here's the relevant part (my emphasis):

"ANDREW MARR:

If you were an American president, we would know all about your medical history. You were asked in the States about your eyesight, and I think the reason you were asked is because people were wondering whether that would be a reason for standing down at some point. Let me ask you about something else which everybody has been talking about out there in the Westminster village, which a lot of people in this country use prescription painkillers and pills to help them get through. Are you one of those people?

GORDON BROWN:

No. I think this is the sort of questioning that is …

ANDREW MARR:

It's a fair question, I think.

GORDON BROWN:

… is all too often entering the lexicon of British politics. I have had very serious problems with my eye. I lost my eyesight playing rugby. I had three major operations and they could not save my sight. I then had exactly the same thing happen to my second eye. I had the same retinal detachment, I had the same fear therefore that I would lose the sight in that eye, and I had to get a very big operation to deal with that. And every year of course I have to check, as I did only a few days ago, that my eyesight is good and there has been absolutely no deterioration in my eyesight and I think people should be absolutely clear that although …

ANDREW MARR:

(over) What about my other question?

GORDON BROWN:

I answered your other question. Although I have problems with my eyes and it has been very difficult over the years, I think people understand that you can do a job and you can work hard. And I think it would be a terrible, terrible indictment of our political system if you thought that because someone had this medical issue, they couldn't do the job. So, Andrew, I think these questions, these questions - of course you might be right to ask them, but I think 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've had as a result of a rugby injury. "

Gordon Brown quite clearly did not answer Andrew Marr's other question and so the Prime Minister of the UK quite clearly lied.