Gordon Brown and the Open Microphone
Several people have referred to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as a hypocrite.
One of those also calls him the "worst sort of hypocrite".
What happened recently is that Brown was speaking with a woman who questioned him about immigration (the woman thought too many east Europeans were being allowed to immigrate to Britain). Brown was nice to her in person but when he got into his limo, Brown called the woman a bigot and, unbeknown to him, the microphone he was carrying picked up his denunciation of her.
Being nice to someone to their face and criticizing them to their back isn't very nice and could be called two faced but it is not hypocrisy. However, some people make a different accusation. They say that Brown has been working to restrict immigration for a decade and thus when he calls someone else a bigot for wanting to restrict immigration, that is hypocrisy. Actually it is not. Prime Minister Brown may believe himself to be a bigot (granted this is unlikely) or he may believe some restrictions are good but restrictions that go too far are bigotry (which is way too nuanced for my taste but may be true nonetheless).
Verdict: Not a hypocrite.
One site calling him a hypocrite is here. Another is here. Another here. Still another here (although that was for something that happened in 2008).
