Sarah joins Gordon Brown on TV sofa

Gordon Brown joined his wife Sarah in their first live televised interview together today - and seized the chance to tell her he loved her.

The couple held hands through much of the GMTV interview, as the Prime Minister paid tribute to his wife for her support throughout the campaign.

He also pledged to "take full responsibility" if voters turned their back on Labour, with less than 48 hours until polling day.

Asked whether he got angry with any negative media reports about his wife , Mr Brown replied: "Yes, I think she's doing a great job as a mother and she's doing a great job as a wife and partner and I think it's quite unfair because she's not throwing herself out with political views.

"It's me that's got to take the blame, it's me that's got to take the responsibility. If there's a mistake made, it's my fault and I accept the responsibility.

"I just think what she's done, just coming round with me, working with me, supporting me. I just love her."

Mrs Brown giggled at the remark and said: "Thank you!"

The Prime Minister was also asked whether if Labour failed to win power on Thursday, it would be personally his fault.

"Well, I'll have to take responsibility and I will take full responsibility if anything happens," he said.

"But I still think that there are thousands of people who are still to make up their minds and they're thinking, look, you know there's been a big financial crisis, it's been really terrible.

"We've had this political crisis with MPs, who's going to do the right job? Who's best for the NHS, who's going to be best for our schools, who's going to be best for jobs?"

He added: "I think they may conclude at the end of the day that it's us."

Mr Brown said he and Sarah would go on a 36-hour tour of Britain, as Tory leader David Cameron planned to do. The Prime Minister insisted his trip had already been planned.

He was asked whether he agreed with tactical voting to stop the Tories gaining power, as Welsh Secretary Peter Hain and Schools Secretary Ed Balls had suggested.

"No, because I want people to vote Labour and I want a majority Labour government," he said.

"I think that the case over the last few days - what happenened is we had all these debates and we had all this novelty and we had all this everything.

"You think of all the publicity that there was, Sarah, about you, me, everybody, everything else.

"And now it comes down to the central issue - who's going to be best for jobs, who's going to be best for the economy, who's going to be best for the health service?"

He added: "Conservatives are too big a risk. Liberals, well they can't explain what they're doing, they don't add up.

"And we're the serious party, maybe too serious sometimes but we're the serious party - not that the other two guys are a lot of laughs - with serious policies for the future, and I want to get that across."

Mr Brown issued a strong warning on the other parties' plans for child tax credits.

He said he had been "speaking with determination" to community leaders yesterday because he felt "so passionately about what's happening about child tax credits".

"Lots of people depend on them for what they can do and now you see the Liberals and the Conservatives want to take away child tax credits for large numbers of people," he said.

On the prospect of a hung parliament, Mr Brown said: "I don't want to be arrogant and assume what people are going to say. Once they've made their views, we will act upon it but the people are the boss.

"And I hope they realise there is a benefit in having a majority Labour government because we can get on with the job of building this recovery, which is still very fragile."

Mrs Brown was asked about her husband's unguarded description of Gillian Duffy last week as "bigoted", and whether her presence in Rochdale could have stopped it happening.

She said: "Well, I wasn't there so I really don't know one way or the other.

"But what I know is when I spoke to Gordon on the phone, what it was about for him was that he had hurt somebody, he was absolutely mortified and he just wanted to be able to talk to her.

"And fortunately, she was kind enough to give him a bit of time and he was able to have a private chat with her."

Mr Brown said he talked to his wife "quite a lot" when they were in different places.

He added: "One thing you miss when you're out on the trail, and we've been out for two, three days at a time, you're calling back and seeing how the children are.

"They're not as much interested in what you're doing as what they're doing but it's really good to talk to them."

They were "genuinely more interested in going to Legoland" than in politics, he said.

The couple were asked how their two sons would feel if they had to leave Downing Street, the only London home they had ever known.

Mrs Brown, who was sporting a bracelet made by her children, said the important thing was to "be together as a family".

"They know that at the moment we're really busy, that we're away for a chunk of time and that we'll be back and we'll all be together as a family."

Asked about her role in the campaign, she said: "What I decided to do was get stuck into the campaign.

"In previous campaigns, I've always got involved and I've been out there, whether it's doorknocking or canvassing or joining Gordon on trips and I've done exactly that this campaign."

Asked whether she was protective of her husband, she said: "We're out and about together and sometimes there's quite big crowds and a lot going on and ... together we're getting through the crowds."

Mr Brown said: "I get quite worried about the people when there are so many crowds and so many cameras, people are getting pushed."

He told of the time they came across a lady hiding underneath a trolley who did not want to be filmed because she had taken the day off sick.

Mrs Brown said her husband was "passionate and really engaged with everything that he's doing".

He said: "Whenever something comes up where it really needs that extra focus, then he's incredibly calm and in a very different mode.

"So the time when the banks collapsed, you're suddenly in an incredibly different mode and at that time, you see a very different, calm Gordon.

"But most of the time he's this tough, engaged, passionate person who I just see wanting to work with people, wanting to deliver the best services we can."

Mrs Brown said she was "confident" enough to dismiss negative reports about her appearance and clothes.

"I don't really mind, I get enough good comments about my clothes that I feel comfortable," she said.

"I think I'm confident enough that if somebody doesn't like something I'll still go out and wear it again."

The Prime Minister was asked whether he would stand down for the good of his party.

"I don't think it will work that way but if I couldn't make a difference any more then I would go off and do something else," he said.

"Sarah and I may go off and do charity voluntary work. I don't want to do business or anything else, I just want to do something good."

Mrs Brown said he had always wanted to help people since he was a child selling a newspaper to raise money for an Oxfam campaign.

And Mr Brown insisted he had no regrets over choosing not to call an election in 2007, just months after becoming Prime Minister.

"No because we had a global financial crisis and I had to take the country through that and I think people will agree that, whatever else they think about what we've done, we've got ourselves through what could have been a huge depression and the banks might not have paid people their savings and we had to make a big decision, a big call," he said.

"It was very difficult as you remember, you were basically on your own, other countries weren't doing it, but I made the decision.

"I made that decision, I made the Euro decision, I made the Bank of England decision, I made lots of decisions, and sometimes you're completely on your own and you've got to go on your judgment and it's big big calls and I think I got the big calls right."