When it was put to him that women thought he was a bit like Heathcliff he agreed, but added: "An older and wiser Heathcliff".
He could not with any other single stroke have alienated himself any further from the zeitgeist – the spirit of the times. Whether or not he is like Heathcliff matters little, but if he was looking for a romantic role model, the attractions of this rough and uncompromising one would be his youth and irresponsibility.
An older and wiser Heathcliff, nowadays, would be no Heathcliff at all.
Age and wisdom are qualities with very little current street cred.
This was reinforced to me the other day when, in almost total despair at the popularity of the appalling modern version of Doctor Who, I inquired of one fan whether the Doctor could ever be re-incarnated as a more elderly academic – which, after all, he originally was – and was told this could not work with a modern audience.
There is no chance that an older and wiser man can be a heroic leader and saviour, unless, like Harrison Ford or Clint Eastwood, he rather sadly still tries to retain his action hero appearance and athleticism.
The doddering William Hartnell or the eccentric Patrick Troughton would just become objects of scorn and ridicule now.
A person whose knowledge allows him to outwit his foes without physical force is an anachronism.
If you look at fantasy fiction you find the same trend.
Gandalf in book of The Lord Of The Rings represents the power of wisdom and he rarely becomes involved in any physical action.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, clearly a Gandalf-inspired figure in Star Wars, was unable to escape entirely the requirement for physical action and the use of ordinary force as well as The Force.
A quarter of a century later, when The Lord Of The Rings was finally turned into a film, Gandalf had to be given quite a few action sequences to satisfy those who cannot accept someone who is victorious by use of their brain alone.
Among the many politicians and journalists who have commented upon Mr Brown's reference to Heathcliff – and in the process of ridiculing his ignorance of the book have clearly manifested their own – few have pointed to Heathcliff's tendency to physical violence.
This may be because no film adaptation has ever had the courage to show fully the extreme violence of the book.
There was an ITV adaptation a decade or so ago with Orla Brady and Robert Cavanah which came closest and was quite shocking at times, but it still didn't do Emily Brontë's imagination justice.
Whether our Great Leader has any violent tendencies has not been revealed, but one would hope not.
I just think, like many a simple man before him, he fancied himself as Laurence Olivier in a rather sad love story, which featured a wronged hero of granite character who stared broodingly across the moors.
But it isn't entirely his fault.
The romantic image of Heathcliff is mostly a product of the female mind.
Many of the hordes of swooning teenagers who still sigh over the films or the book would, I suggest, be rather taken aback to actually meet him.
Some, alas, do meet people like him, usually with disastrous results for them because, it turns out, the fiery Cathys of this world are rare and the meek Isabella Lintons are all too common.
Let's hope Gordon won't treat us as badly as that.