A female constituent emailed me today to say: "How coincidental, both Brown and Campbell cry during TV interviews so close to an election".  Clearly, the woman was suggesting there was a calculated attempt to secure sympathy in the hope that Labour might stand a better chance at the election.  It is a question being tackled on a number of blogs and will no doubt be a part of the news cycle for the remainder of this week (the interview with Mr Brown is due to air on Saturday).

I watched the interview with Alastair Campbell and didn't buy it for a moment.  He is a calculating media relations supremo who is known to stop at nothing to win.  He will have known exactly how to play that interview with Andrew Marr and will no doubt have seen the impact Hilary Clinton's tears had in one of her primary elections in the USA.  
I have not seen the interview with Mr Brown, but I shall be watching it next weekend.  I have no doubt that his very good friend Piers Morgan will have discussed the questions in advance and Mr Brown will have prepared for it. But whatever our differences of opinion on many things, I don't think anyone can ever fully recover from the death of a child.  I lost my mother to Breast Cancer nearly 5 years ago and I still find it difficult to accept.  I have huge sympathy for the Browns on a personal level.  It doesn't make me more inclined to vote for Mr Brown, any more than the loss of David Cameron's son makes him any more popular.  But I do think there is a danger that some, like my constituent, will question the timing of this interview.