Prime Minister Gordon Brown has hit back at claims that he was careless and insincere when writing a letter of condolence to Mrs Jacqui Janes over the death of her son, Jamie Janes.
The PM said: "I'm sorry that Mrs Jones feels this way. My letter was carefully written to express my condolences over the death of her son, Johnny Jones. I'm sorry she can't read properly. Anyone can see that I wrote the name Jack correctly."
Allies of the PM are furious and accuse political opponents of trying to stain his otherwise impeccable record in office.
Mrs Janes spoke to the Prime Minister on the phone for 13 minutes about the letter and her anger over lack of equipment for soldiers serving in Afghanistan. But Mr Brown denied there was a lack of helicopters available for emergency rescues of injured soldiers.
He said: "I told Miss Jackson that her nephew Julian would not have survived anyway."
Mr Brown continued: "The fact is that I feel tremendous sadness when parents lose a child in war. I was only trying to give comfort to Mr Johnson but nothing I say can ever bring his daughter Joanna back."
