Come on Gordon, you can still do it!

The Mole went down to Brighton yesterday for a breath of sea air and ended up sniffing something dangerously close to - what, a whiff of confidence?

After the miserable pre-conference polls, could it really be true that Gordon Brown still has a chance to be prime minister this time next year? That Lord Mandelson is right when he says that while Labour are now the underdogs, the next election is still "up for grabs"?

On the eve of conference, it appeared to be all over. Cabinet ministers were lining up to sign the party's death warrant. Mandelson was even talking about taking a job from Cameron - for the sake of the country, for God's sake.

In the wider world, Brown is seen as the man who saved the global economy

Across the Atlantic, Brown was batting away questions about why President Obama didn't even want to see him, let alone have a chat about world affairs. Gloomy wasn't the word for it.

The Mole's view is that everything changed with the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. Forget for a moment the contentious issue of whether or not Marr should have asked the PM about the anti-depressants; that took a matter of seconds at the end a half-hour interview in which Brown looked sharp, confident, on top of his game.

How come he looked so good? "Very simple," a Labour consultant put it me yesterday. "You must understand that in New York and Pittsburgh Gordon was on a high. He was rubbing shoulders with men and women who respect him. Who think he's done a truly wonderful job persuading terrified economics ministers around the world to follow his line - and it's paying off for them. The recession clouds are lifting! We could actually be getting out of this financial mess - and a lot of people would say it's mainly down to Gordon's vision.

"That's how he's seen on the world stage. Contrast that with the atmosphere at home - round the Cabinet table and in the media. What we saw on Sunday was Gordon feeling good, feeling loved and respected. I cannot remember being so impressed by him in a one-on-one TV interview. The question now is how to bottle that optimism and confidence and make it last till May."

Of course, not only Brown's advisers but his Cabinet were up smartish on Sunday, watching Marr, biting their nails, praying Gordo would get through it unscathed. When he did, the relief was palpable - and by Monday the knock-on effect was in full swing.

Forget the "for the sake of the country" nonsense: Peter Mandelson used his speech to conference yesterday to rally the troops, and pledge his undivided loyalty to the Prime Minister, a man of "experience and change" compared to the "shallowness" of David Cameron. Brown, he said, had "gripped" the financial crisis while the Tories would have stood idly by. And if he, Mandy, could make a comeback, so could the party.

"It was a transforming moment," an old Labour hand told the Mole later. "He transformed the party from believing the game was all over to believing they can stop the Cameron bandwagon, it is possible."

Now let's move to the outer edges of the Brighton circus and the appearance yesterday of another political vaudeville act, the Lib Dems' Vince Cable.

Mandelson used his speech to rally the troops and pledge loyalty to Brown

Cable was written off by some sections of the press last week as a near-loony because of his mansion tax plan - a proposal to tax anyone with a house worth a million quid or more at 0.5 per cent a year. It's reminiscent of the ISF tax they have in France which drives wealthy Frenchmen - not to mention rich English owners of Provencal farmhouses - bonkers, but which the rest of the population see as a very reasonable idea. (Needless to say, Vince's proposal has since been voted by a huge majority as one of the best ideas the British public has heard in years.)

Anyway, Vince appeared at a fringe meeting in Brighton to discuss a possible pact between Labour and the Lib Dems in the event of a hung Parliament at the next election. He ruled out a formal coalition - but - and it's big 'but' - he did suggest that there might be room for a coalition of ideas and policies between the two parties.

What he was saying in effect was that if Labour were to sneak a win at the election, but without an overall majority, they could continue to rule, shored up by the Lib Dems guaranteeing their support on key votes - the Budget, for instance, and votes of confidence. There was sufficient similarity between the two parties for this to happen, said Vince. Anything to keep the Tories out of power.

Which brings us to David Cameron and his position in the nation's affections.

The fact is the Tory leader is not as popular as he should be at this stage if he wants to lead his party to a comfortable victory. Recent polls have tended to show the Conservatives a touch over 40 per cent ­ way short of the high 40s enjoyed by Tony Blair ahead of his 1997 landslide - and the lead is based not enough on Cameron's strength, and too much on Brown's weakness.

Because of the pro-Labour bias in the electoral system, the Tories have to be nine or 10 per cent ahead in the polls to secure an overall majority. (Labour, by contrast, can be neck and neck in the polls and still secure an overall majority.)

The significance of this is that a Labour recovery - based on a tangible economic upturn - could cut the Tory lead to single figures, making a hung Parliament a real possibility. Which is why the Lib Dems are talking up Labour's chances.

And no one is talking them up more than that old Lib Dem warhorse, Lord 'Paddy' Ashdown. His message to anyone prepared to listen is that it's not over for Gordon. He is Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, says Paddy. He may be a megalomaniac - but at least he got us through the storm!

Well, it's Captain Ahab's turn today to address the troops. And whatever else Mandy may have achieved with his barnstorming warm-up act yesterday, he appears to have drowned out the calls from Charles Clarke and others for a new leader.