Afghanistan... China... Anywhere but London

Don’t be surprised to see Brown concentrating on global issues, says our Westminster insider

As the Electoral Commission refers the issue of David Abrahams's Labour Party donations to the police, Gordon Brown is preparing to refocus attention off sleaze, lost data discs and Northern Rock - and onto Afghanistan.

There has been considerable cross-Whitehall traffic between David Miliband's Foreign Office and Downing Street over a major policy statement on Afghanistan that Brown will make to the Commons before Christmas. With an eye on the flood of opinion polls putting the Tories ten points or more ahead of Labour, the Brown camp believe global issues can lift the PM out of the domestic mire.

There are high stakes in play. Brown wants to show that there is no backtracking from the fight against the Taliban that could allow terrorist camps to be established again in Afghanistan. Equally, he is prepared for some

tension with the Bush White House over the poppy harvest.

The Bush team are highly critical of the Brits for refusing to spray the crops that produce over 90 per cent of the world's heroin. Brown is taking a more thoughtful 'hearts and minds' approach. The centrepiece of his statement will be a comprehensive aid package to persuade farmers to stop growing the poppy for drugs exports.

The policy has been compared to the EU intervention fund for farmers. Just as the EU is cutting back subsidies, Brown will be accused of proposing them for heroin producers. However, he is prepared to face that criticism. His bottom line is that communities in Afghanistan must be won over at any cost.

He is also planning a trip to China in January, his first as Prime Minister. He will retrace Tony Blair's steps to Shanghai. But with the interim report due before December 14 on the data disaster at HM Revenue and Customs, and Lord Whitty under pressure to come up with a speedy response on the party funding row, a month will seem a very long time.