Brown counts on Obama to lift his fortunes

Published on Saturday 28 February 2009 18:48

GORDON Brown will fly to America this week to escape from his domestic travails in the hope that some of Barack Obama's magic rubs off on him.

The Prime Minister will use his first face-to-face meeting with the new president to develop an economic strategy that will take the world out of recession and restore his reputation at home.

Brown hopes that by becoming the first European leader to meet with Obama since his inauguration will enhance his image as an international statesman and silence critics of his leadership within the Labour Party.

His strategists believe that a convincing performance during the trip, which includes Brown making a rare address to a joint session of Congress, would give his flagging popularity the boost it needs if he is to have any chance of holding on to power.

Senior ministers including Harriet Harman, Ed Balls and Jack Straw are said to be jockeying to take over from him at Number 10.

Dismal showings in recent polls have piled the pressure on Brown at a time when he ought to be devoting all his efforts on the economy.

Recently it was reported that Straw would "sign on the dotted line" to lead Labour after an opinion poll found he was the public's choice to replace Brown.

Yesterday, a senior Brown Cabinet ally attempted to play down the speculation about his leadership. John Denham, the Skills Secretary, said the question of who will replace Brown will be irrelevant if the Government fails to steer the country through the recession.

He said the economic crisis was the only battle ministers should be fighting and warned that Labour faced years in the wilderness should they lose the next election.

Denham said: "To me that is the only thing worth thinking about – the ability to rise to that big challenge now – not what might happen after some future election.

"Show that we can master this challenge, win the next election and we will shape politics for the next 10 or 15 years. Lose it, and frankly the debate about who is leader is rather like the debate about who became leader in 1979."

Meanwhile, Brown was given a sharp reminder of his troubles at home when he was booed and jeered by more than 100 protesters as he arrived in Bristol to make a speech to Labour's National Policy Forum.

The protesters were complaining about the Government's plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail.

Last week Lord Mandelson published the bill paving the way for a partial sale of the Royal Mail, insisting it would remain in public hands even though up to 30% could be sold to a foreign firm.

At least seven ministerial aides have now put their names to a Commons motion opposing the controversial policy – with several indicating they might quit over the issue.

The Prime Minister's special envoy to Iraq, Ann Clwyd, has also signed, bringing the number of Labour rebels to 136.

Cabinet ministers are also reported to have been putting pressure on Brown and Mandelson to drop the idea.

In his speech, Brown defended the Government's actions and urged his critics to face the realities of the economic crisis.

Before he flies to Washington on Tuesday for his two day US trip Brown will attend an emergency economic summit in Berlin with all his fellow EU leaders today. The meeting is part of the build-up to the G20 meeting of world leaders that the Prime Minister will host in London in April.