Gordon Brown's 'veiled dig' at Rishi Sunak's General Election hopes sparks backlash

It was the collaboration no one had been expecting: Dr Who actor David Tennant and ex-Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, sharing whiskey shots together at Pub in the Park. Audiences' jaws dropped as Gordon walked in, ready to share his drinking tales from years gone by - and they were totally unprepared for his cryptic comment ahead of the July 4 election.

During the live podcast session at Chiswick House, he declared: "We say in politics that there are those who fail and those who get out in time!" Onlookers in the crowd exclaimed to each other: "Is that a dig at Rishi?"

One festival-goer raised her eyebrows and muttered: "That's not very subtle!" Brown didn't reference Sunak by name, but his words took place just days before the general election, with polls predicting that the Conservatives will lose and Labour will claim a landslide victory for the first time in 14 years.

Labour's Tony Blair had led the country for a decade, between 1997 and 2007, and Gordon Brown then succeeded him until his resignation in 2010. However, Brown made it clear that he's unlikely to return as a leader on the Labour stage, quipping: "I think I'm too old for British politics, and too young for American politics!"

Brown is currently 73 - almost a decade younger than Joe Biden, but just five years behind Donald Trump. Meanwhile, although he might have thought he was too old to follow in Sir Keir Starmer's footsteps at a future election, David Tennant, on the other hand, claimed he was "too old for shots".

However, he had a change of heart when the pair were offered some "nutty Moonshine" - a whiskey-based tipple that co-star Arabella Weir raved was "like liquid chocolate".

"It's not every day I get to have shots with a former Prime Minister," he quipped, raising his glass.

The topic turned to Brown's experience of imbibing in his college days at Edinburgh University, despite being just 16 years old when he began his degree.

Then Tennant - whose controversial comments about trans rights recently saw him claim he wished for a world where Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch "didn't exist" - discussed his favourite haunts.

However, when asked by Sunday Brunch's Simon Rimmer - who was hosting the live podcast - to reveal names and addresses, he wasn't keen. "I'll give you my postcode as well, shall I?" he sarcastically shot back.

Rimmer joked: "I forget that these are real celebrities - if I named the pub next to my house, no one would care!"

He also mocked Brown  on the night for one of his chosen tipples. "As a former Labour Prime Minister you're going for a very working class drink!" he exclaimed, pausing for dramatic effect before quipping: "Champagne!"