Skipper

Somehow, this picture of Gordon Brown in Afghanistan, says it all about him. There he is, arms straight down by his sides, staring glumly at the camera while his picture is taken with two squaddies. Apart from Margaret Beckett, no other current politician could be so
devastatingly uncharismatic.

This helps to explain the Observer poll results. This shows Brown, despite his immense hard work in elaborating policies which have probably yanked us out of a potentially more disastrous recession, has managed to achieve the minus results of John Major in the mid 1990s. You will recall that 'The Grey Man's ratings continued to bomb even though the economy had turned around. He and his chancellor, Ken Clarke, derived no electoral credit for that achievement and it seems Gordon is suffering the same fate.

Reason? The Conservative brand was shot to pieces by sleaze, incompetence and boredom and nothing they could do would help. I fear the same malady now afflicts Labour. 43% of respondents now believe the country is emerging from recession, compared to 7% in spring 2008. But during this substantial turnaround of opinion over the economy, Labour's support has continued to fall- now it's 26% to Conservatives' 43%. As with Major's dying months 19960-7, no amount of relaunching or policy initiatives is likely to turn things around. Defeatist? Well, maybe, but I think I'm just being realistic, though Labour must continue fighting tooth and nail to minimize the extent of their likely defeat.