Gordon, lost in New York

If you thought the 10p tax row was bad, wait until Labour MPs hear about Gordon Brown's latest foray into 'tough love' with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Prime Minister checked out a welfare programme called 'Opportunity NYC' in which the poor are given welfare hand-outs provided that they keep their children under control. Bad behaviour by their children can lead to the loss of benefits.

Brown has already announced his interest in implementing a similar policy in the UK. It sounds like a piece of pure Thatcherism and it will go down like a broken leg with Labour MPs canvassing for the May 1 elections who are finding the 10p tax issue is losing them votes.

But Brown is dismissing the 10p rebellion as a 'short-term problem', insisting he is keeping focused on 'long-term issues' such as saving the world from global economic recession.

Today he will buddy up with George Bush at the White House, having heaped praise on the 'special relationship' in an interview with CBS television. But the reality is that Brown is low in the pecking order in the US. The Pope was coast to coast on all the TV stations yesterday, wiping Brown out completely, and few Americans know who the British Prime Minister is. Tony Blair will be in the US next week, emphasising the difference in profile between the two men.

Labour rank-and-file MPs are worried that 'President Brown' is becoming dangerously out of touch with ordinary voters, not to say reality. This happened to Thatcher and it happened to Blair but they are alarmed it has happened to Brown so quickly. Like Pitt the Younger, he sees himself as the Pilot who steered Britain to safety through the troubled waters of economic storms. Unfortunately the one-eyed mariner could be heading for the rocks.

THE MOLE: BROWN IN THE USA

FIRST POSTED APRIL 17, 2008