Brown goes to Helmand to forget allowances row

Wheels down. Stand to attention. The Prime Minister has landed in Afghanistan - again! - ready to take on the Taliban. It is enough to fuel the sceptics’ view that every time he is in trouble back home, Brown goes for a photo-op with our troops abroad.

There was a news black-out for security reasons lifted the moment he set foot on Afghan soil this morning and began his usual series of little homilies to the boys – invariably left baffled by these visits - assembled on the ground.

The photo-op involves a five-hour flight through the night in a thundering old Hercules, rock-hopping over the mountains, and a hair-raising landing in a steep dive to avoid the Taliban taking pot-shots with RPGs - but it's worth it. It’s a chance to get the stink of the Damian McBride smear scandal - and the stench of Jacqui Smith's expenses - out of his nostrils, and replace it with the bracing air of Camp Bastion, a relatively safe corner of Britain in the heart of Helmand Province.

It is also a chance to forget for a moment his troubles back in Westminster where he has been forced into retreat over the MPs’ expenses solution he put forward only last week. His proposal to replace the second homes allowance with an attendance allowance has been rubbished on all sides, including his own.

His most senior ministers have informed the Mole that Brown is looking at defeat in the face in the Commons on Thursday, unless a compromise can be agreed with David Cameron, the Tory leader. Asked what can be done to avoid defeat, one minister cheerfully said: "Fuck knows!"

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, is putting forward a compromise of his own today, suggesting MPs could maintain a second home but they would only be able to charge utility bills, mortgage interest and council tax, and the taxpayer would get a share of the proceeds when the second home was sold.

Nick Brown, Chief Whip, and Harriet Harman, Leader of the Commons, are seeking a compromise on Brown's plan by trying to come up with a system which would allow checks to be made before MPs can claim their attendance allowance: simply signing on wouldn't be enough.

Brown is also facing a battle over some of the most cherished public spending sacred cows, starting with the £75bn replacement for Trident and the £5bn ID cards plan. Even the Blairite Stephen Byers admitted at the weekend that both may have to be cut if Chancellor Alistair Darling is to have any hope of making sense out of his hopelessly optimistic Budget plans.

No wonder Super Brown prefers to kick up the dust in Helmand with the armed forces. They take orders. They snap to it. And they get the job done. If only his own MPs were more like that!