GORDON Brown has slumped in popularity among the public, most of whom consider him to be a "ditherer" who can't take decisive action, according to new polls.
The Prime Minister will fly to the US this week for a final meeting with outgoing President George W Bush in a welcome escape from growing dissent among Labour ranks over his performance in the job.
But a YouGov poll last night put the Conservativ
es on 44% of the vote, a 16-year high. Labour are a distant 16 points behind on a mere 28%. Meanwhile, Brown's personal rating has plummeted from a peak of plus 48 in September last year to minus 37 now – the largest drop for any modern prime minister, the pollsters say.
MPs say they fear for Brown's electoral chances in a future general election, amid growing speculation that he needs to put in a strong performance in next month's English and London mayoral elections to prevent a potential leadership challenge this summer.
Both the Blairite wing and the Campaign group of socialist MPs are known to be preparing a strike against the embattled premier if the votes on May 1 go badly.
Brown's aides are now hoping that this week's trip, when he will spend four days in New York and Washington, will re-establish his reputation as an international statesman.
Discussions with Bush on the global economy, high-profile talks with the three US presidential hopefuls – Republican John McCain and the Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama – and a major speech on reforming global institutions are all planned as Brown attempts to show he is a major player on the world scene.
On the domestic front, Brown's advisers say they are planning a relentless focus on the growing financial concerns of households up and down the country. "We want to achieve a better understanding of the on-going uncertainty in the financial markets," said the Prime Minister's official spokesman.
But the Stateside relaunch looks unlikely to quell the growing panic among some MPs who fear their jobs are in danger. Brown's leadership has been damaged by claims of Cabinet punch-ups, a slide in the polls, accusations of dithering and backbench anger over the abolition of the 10p tax band.
Brown's woes were added to yesterday after the Trades Union Congress warned the tax change was causing "huge resentment" among ordinary workers.
The Treasury has insisted there will be no U-turn, although Brown is said to have asked friends and colleagues to send him the payslips of anyone who will be worse off because of the 10p tax rate.
The YouGov poll found that 60% of people agreed that Brown was a "ditherer". Only 26% of people called him "decisive". Most (57%) said he was "floundering" – with only 14% believing the PM was "in control of events".
Voters indicated they would prefer to vote for the party if Tony Blair was still leader – with the Tory lead cut to five points.
Tomorrow, shadow chancellor George Osborne will seek to capitalise on Brown's woes, making a major policy speech on the Conservatives' "alternative vision for the economy".
He will say: "It is not the Prime Minister's style that Labour MPs are attacking – it is his decisions."
Brown will end his visit with a major foreign policy speech in Boston on reforming institutions such as the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The full article contains 575 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
