Gordon Brown attended an “exorcism” to help sign a footballer, former Scotland manager Craig Levein has claimed. The ex-PM watched worshippers wail and collapse to the floor as a pastor apparently cast out demons during the bonkers church service.
Mr Brown, then chancellor, had arranged the visit in 2006 in a bid to lure defender Marvin Andrews back to his beloved Raith Rovers.
Mr Levein told the Under The Cosh podcast how he was summoned to a car park in Kirkcaldy before three Range Rovers “came tearing in” with lights flashing and sirens blaring. He recalled: “The window comes down and it’s Gordon.”
Mr Brown then whisked him off to meet Andrews at the Zion Praise Centre, run by the player’s spiritual mentor, Pastor Joe Nwokoye. But instead of a straightforward chat about football, Mr Levein found himself witnessing what he described as a demon-busting spectacle.
He said: “I’d chosen an evening to go along with Gordon Brown to meet Pastor Joe when they were casting out demons. The guys go up on the stage and Pastor Joe gets his hand on their head here and there is a whole lot of wailing noises going on and he shoves them down and they fall backwards.
“I am sitting there going, ‘What the f***’s going on?’ I’m there to meet Marvin and there are people falling about all over and there is six people lying on the ground. It was the most bizarre evening I have ever had.”
And the unholy transfer mission appeared to work, with Andrews eventually returning to Raith after being released by Rangers. But the devout Christian insisted a higher being, rather than the then-chancellor, deserved the credit.
He declared: “I’m delighted to be back at Stark’s Park but I’m not here because of what Gordon Brown said. I’m here because of what God said.”
Andrews, now 50, later became a full-time preacher and even offered to exorcise a supposedly haunted house after five nannies quit in a year.
He warned at the time: “There are different types of spirits, but in my experience anything problematic is usually linked to Satan. It’s the devil you are dealing with. In this case the spirit is obstructive so it is a problem.”
Representatives for Mr Brown have been contacted for comment.