Attack is not fair.

IT IS difficult not to feel sympathy for Gordon Brown in the latest row over his letter and phone call to the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Whatever the politics, the Prime Minister knows only too well the pain of losing a child after the death of his baby daughter Jennifer Jane.

Indeed one of the defining moments of this year came in his moving, heartfelt Commons address as a father following the death of Ivan Cameron, son of the opposition leader.

So for him to be castigated over a handwritten letter and a 13-minute phone call over the past couple of days is arguably overstepping the mark. The row about whether his letter contained misspellings or not or the fact he took the trouble to personally speak to Jacqui Janes, only for that call to be relayed to the world, masks the real issues.

Do the troops on the frontline in Afghanistan have the right level of personnel and equipment? What exactly are the aims and objectives of the war and should the troops be pulled out? Gordon Brown has responded with genuine concern and dignity to the storm which has been whipped up.

Questioning and attacking the Government's policies on Afghanistan is fair game but attacking his personal correspondence and conversation in this instance is not.