Gordon Brown

What was the accusation?

In September 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially apologized, on behalf of the British government, for the “horrifying” and “utterly unfair” treatment of World War II codebreaker Alan Turing. Brown’s statement commemorated Turing’s invaluable contributions to the war effort (i.e., decoding messages encrypted by the German Enigma machines) and denounced the legal ramifications Turing endured for “gross indecency,” or, in other words, for being gay. The apology followed (and was likely instigated by) a Downing Street petition calling for such action on the government’s part.

Key Apologia Strategies:

Mortification, Bolstering

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Sources

Brown, G. (2009, September 10). Gordon Brown: I’m proud to say sorry to a real war hero. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/gordon-brown/6170112/Gordon-Brown-Im-proud-to-say-sorry-to-a-real-war-hero.html

Davies, C. (2009, September 10). PM’s apology to codebreaker Alan Turing: we were inhumane. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/11/pm-apology-to-alan-turing