As Jack threatens to punch Ed, Gordon heads West

Gordon Brown will be looking for some respite from the warring factions in his own Cabinet when he heads for Texas next week to say 'howdy' to his new best friend George Bush and to meet the two Democratic rivals seeking to replace him in the Oval Office, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Prime Ministers in trouble at home - where Brown's approval rating is at an all-time low - always find themselves more popular abroad; Thatcher and Blair both wowed the US when their names were mud in Britain.

Brown is going to find Tony Blair a hard act to follow in the US, where the former Prime Minister has been earning a fortune on the lecture circuit. However, Brown surprisingly hit it off with Bush at the Bucharest Nato summit while sitting next to the President an all-morning plenary session. Items on the agenda when they meet in Texas will include Iraq, Afghanistan and the defeat of global economic turbulence.

Unfortunately for Brown, he then has to get back to Westminster to knock his party into shape for the May 1 elections. It is not going to be easy. Jack Straw is supposed to have threatened to punch Ed Balls after a recent Cabinet row over who was to blame for youth crime and John Hutton and Alistair Darling are at daggers drawn over the treatment of the super rich. Meanwhile, Ken Livingstone is struggling to keep up with Boris Johnson in the London mayoral race. If Labour loses London, the blow to backbench morale will be immense.

No wonder a visit to our American cousins suddenly appears so inviting.

THE MOLE: US VISIT

FIRST POSTED APRIL 9, 2008