Britain has never known a more tortured public figure than Gordon Brown. Judging by a snippet from his new book, the torment continues in private.

In My Life, Our Times, Gordon does some anguished reflecting on the Iraq war. Almost a decade and a half after the event, and more than seven after he left Downing Street, it still plagues him. As it should.

Gordon cannot formally accept any guilt for what he did (or failed to do) to enable an indelible national disgrace. Owning any offence graver than not emoting enough for a reality TV electorate is too much for his brittle pride to bear.

But one trait that seems to distinguish him from Tony Blair is a capacity to feel guilt, even if he expresses it obliquely in the language of denial.

As Prime Minister, this was visible from his subtle method of confessing to telling whoppers, which was to mention how his father taught him and his brothers always to tell the truth. Referring to his dad when accused of dishonesty was as blatant a tell as Le Chiffre bleeding from an eye when bluffing 007 in Casino Royale, or Homer Simpson whooping with joy on being dealt four jacks.

READ MORE HERE:   http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/gordon-brown-iraq-war-george-bush-saddam-hussein-weapons-mass-destruction-a8038806.html