Brown finds a career life raft in financial storms

Published on Sunday 12 October 2008 22:05

IT WOULD be wrong to say that Gordon Brown is revelling in the current financial crisis. He is much too serious for that. But there can be no doubt that he finds himself at ease in a financial world of myriad complications and permutations beyond the comprehension of most voters and savers.

But just as this self-confessed private man's obvious discomfort at having to reveal himself to viewers of GMTV was plain for all to see, so too is his command of the world economic crisis. Here at last is a political challenge worthy of his formidable intellect, and a chance to prove that the fearsome reputation he built in a decade as Chancellor was not some tabloid construction.

The signs had been there for months. First there was his call for action on Zimbabwe. Then was his slap-down of Tory leader David Cameron, and his rivals within Labour, as "novices". And last week was a dramatic Cabinet reshuffle and the 500 billion rescue package for UK banks, which the Financial Times declared to be the "most ambitious and comprehensive plan" by any world leader. By playing to his strengths, Mr Brown has portrayed himself as the strong leader his admirers always believed he could be.

The opinion polls agree. Yesterday, a survey found that Mr Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling were more trusted to run the economy than their opposite numbers, Mr Cameron and George Osborne, by a clear margin of 33 per cent to 27 per cent. Mr Brown's personal approval rating has also improved – as has that of his party.