Brown appoints spin supremo

Gordon Brown, who was determined to conduct himself as Prime Minister without resort to a spinmeister, has, after months of bad news and cock-ups, bowed to the inevitable and appointed a 43-year-old PR whiz, Stephen Carter, to head up strategy, communications and policy at 10 Downing Street. The PM's office is at pains to stress that Carter will not have the sort of sweeping powers that the previous regime's all-powerful gatekeeper Jonathan Powell and its infamous communications chief Alastair Campbell enjoyed.

Whether or not that turns out to be the case, Carter has his work cut out. A new Populus poll for the Times shows that Conservative leader David Cameron has overtaken Brown on the issue of the leadership qualities required to be Prime Minister. Soon after Brown entered Number 10 last June, the new PM was ahead of Cameron by 56 to 32 per cent on leadership potential. Now, Cameron is ahead by 44 to 40 per cent.

Carter will also have to deal with the fallout from the latest sleaze accusation surrounding donations to Labour: this time Peter Hain, the Work and Pensions Secretary, is alleged to have failed to declare large donations towards his deputy leadership bid. It is understood the Electoral Commission is to investigate and that Hain could face a fine.

Carter is chief executive of Brunswick, the powerful City public relations and lobbying firm. A fellow Scot, who attended Aberdeen and Harvard universities, he was recommended to the Prime Minister by Alan Parker, Brunswick's chairman and a personal friend of the Browns.

Before agreeing to take on the Number 10 job at a annual salary of £137,000, Carter was the founding chairman of Ofcom, the communications regulator. One minister told the Guardian today: "He is a serious grown-up. He did a brilliant job forming Ofcom into a highly respected organisation."

Supporters of the PM believe he had to find someone like Carter to get the Downing Street act together. The eleventh-hour decision to pull out of a November general election, the covert role of Labour donor David Abrahams, and the perceived snub when Brown arrived late to sign the EU treaty in Lisbon were all self-inflicted wounds that could have been avoided.