Those who follow British politics know much of this already, but why would it feature in a story now?
Gordon Brown's speech to a party conference was put in jeopardy last week when he accidentally washed a contact lens out of his eye and it disappeared down a sink plughole.
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As worried staff and party officials wondered what to do, a quick-thinking member of staff at the conference venue, Caird Hall, detached the pipe from beneath the sink and fished out the lens.Mr Brown is blind in his left eye and was recently said to be having problems with his right. The loss of the lens would, said one long-time Scottish friend last night, have meant real problems for him in trying to read the teleprompt screen containing his speech and might even have led to the address having to be cancelled.
Those who witnessed the incident were told to say nothing about it, and when The Times asked a Downing Street spokesman for confirmation, he refused to comment.
...Mr Brown's sight was damaged at 16 when a rugby accident caused retinal detachment. Surgeons carried out several operations to save his right eye but the Prime Minister, in his own words, had to “lie in the darkness for weeks on end†before knowing that he would be able to see.
...There were unconfirmed reports late last year that Mr Brown's sight was deteriorating. One report quoted the Prime Minister's close friends as revealing that he can only see extremely large print and has needed guidance at public events. There were suggestions that if he falls or bumps into something, the retina in his good eye could fail and he would risk complete blindness. He recently had to have a cataract removed.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5870513.eceI think someone has decided to have a little jab at Obama.
