George Osborne’s past claim that Gordon Brown is autistic has been crawled over again in recent days, most recently by Stephen Glover in today’s Daily Mail.

Autism is generally regarded as a spectrum of disfunctionality. A bundle of related problems might be a better description. It also crosses over with other complaints.

Reading about Brown’s reactions, both to last week’s nasty email shenanigans in Downing Street, and earlier behavioural quirks, leads me in a different, if no less serious, direction.

Gordon Brown can’t bear to be challenged by anyone, especially by a colleague who may possibly usurp his position. Any heads peering over the parapet allegedly set off the kind of vicious reputational attack he employed Damian McBride to execute on his behalf.

Those are symptoms of paranoia.

Another tendency, illustrated by claims in the press that he resembles that well-known fictional Scottish gentleman known by the twin names of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, reveals something else.

Some comments report Brown as a kindly, erudite personality, always willing to help, and a good friend. Others insist he’s a deranged madman, hurling laptops and mobile phones around the room, and at people who cross him. Presumably this is at taxpayers’ expense?

This suggests a schizoid character who appears to be two people rolled into one.

A psychological clinician — which I’m not — might well diagnose a case of paranoid schizophrenia. Since Brown obviously manages to function reasonably well most of the time, an additional tag of “borderline” might be added.

But borderline or not, such serious disfunctionality in a Prime Minister should not go without comment or public medical reassurance.

Brown’s manic handling of the economy over 12 years, from Prudence to obsessive spending on anything that took his fancy, suggests another aspect of a split personality: bipolar disorder. It may also explain why the country is in such a mess.

Shouldn’t something be done? Pronto?

John Evans

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