PM feels the weight of high office

Gordon Brown, keen to publicise the Government's new health drive, is due to meet Mr Motivator at No 10 today. Otherwise known as Derrick Evans, he's the TV trainer who used to thrill the housewives in his Lycra shorts on GMTV.

The Mole hopes the PM is not taking his new exercise kick too far. He admitted at the weekend that his New Year resolution was to run "a mile or two" to get fitter. "I will never be able to get back to being the sprinter that I used to be," he told the Observer, "but I want to be fitter."

The weight of high office is clearly having its effect on his midriff and he's feeling his age - 58 next month. He was an all-round athlete at school, playing tennis in the Kirkcaldy boys' cup, running in the Fife county schoolboys athletics championships and playing rugby until an injury robbed him of his sight in one eye.

But the Mole would caution him against jogging, at least in public. Pictures of past US presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush Senior and Bill Clinton on the run became symbols of their knackered presidencies.

Far better to take a leaf out of past British prime ministers' fitness books: Tony Blair discreetly played tennis or football, and Harold Wilson went for relaxing walks in the Scilly Isles. Or he could follow Boris Johnson and Dave Cameron. On your bike, Gordon!

THE MOLE: PM ON THE RUN

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 7, 2009