Hello and hello again - Brown's short term memory issues

That Gordon Brown is a social misanthrope who comes across as a bit weird sometimes is not exactly new news, but today's serialisation of Peter Watt's book in the Mail on Sunday has a decent tale of how bad it can get. The following is a recollection of what took place just after the "Curry House Plot" (my emphasis added).

When Gordon arrived [at Labour HQ], he gave a warm speech and was received politely. It was all going quite well, until he decided to do a tour of the office. He wandered round the big open-plan room with a weird fixed grin on his face, shaking hands with the staff and saying ‘Thanks for everything you do’ over and again.

There was no variation and he never added any small talk. As he approached people’s desks, they would stand up, accept the handshake and wait for him to say something else. Each time there was an excruciating moment while they waited for him to speak and he just stood there staring back at them, before moving on to the next person.

It was all very wooden and embarrassing, especially when he forgot who he’d met and ended up shaking some people’s hands twice. They were forced to go through the whole ritual again, pretending they’d not met him just a few minutes before.

Can you imagine what he must be like at a big international summit? He's probably a laughing stock in the corridors of power around the world.