Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy, has said that Prime Minister Gordon Brown “can be rubbish on tape and not good on telly”.

In an exclusive interview with Holyrood magazine, Murphy explained his belief that Brown’s intellect did not come through well in the media as it could not be easily distilled into short clips.

He said: “Sometimes he is rubbish on telly and that is the truth and I have said it before and in a world where the premium is on a seven-second clip or a soundbite, Gordon and his intellect do not fit into seven seconds.”

While many may agree with Murphy’s comments, they are not likely to go down well with the Labour Party so close to the general election, especially since it is not the first time Brown has faced criticism as a result of his communication skills.

However, Murphy said that he hoped the British public could see past the PR politics of David Cameron and the Conservative Party, adding: “I just hope when it comes to the election, people want substance sometimes not with the greatest PR in the world, rather than some airbrushed guy from posters.

“I am not saying David Cameron is a stupid man, far from it, but in a contest of intellect, in a contest of substance and of PR then Gordon wins two out of three. The nearer we get to the election, it can’t just be about the packaging; it has to be about the content.”

Read the full interview in Holyrood magazine, out Monday

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