LONDON: As the economic crisis deepened last Thursday, Gordon Brown was pictured with his eyes closed as he passed the portrait of a smiling Tony Blair on the Downing Street staircase.
The prime minister could be forgiven for appearing to be deep in prayer after his risky £500bn bailout of British banks earlier in the week.
MPs are speculating that Brown has performed what is known in American football as a ‘Hail Mary pass’ - a desperate last throw of the ball up the field in the hope that it will rescue the team from defeat.
The high-risk strategy by Brown is a far cry from his cautious decision a year ago not to call a snap general election. But the financial crisis appears to have transformed him from a “dithering”, “weak” prime minister into an authoritative statesman who is enjoying being at the centre of the global economic storm.
His presentation in Paris to the euro group of countries on the “British bailout model” underlines the sense that he feels he is the only person who can lead the world out of market turmoil.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Brown said, with apparent sangfroid: “I think we can safely call it a crisis now.”
Yet critics questioned whether Brown was cashing in on the financial meltdown to boost his popularity after coming close to being ousted as Labour leader.
The premier has enjoyed a small but significant bounce in the polls since the collapse of Lehman Brothers four weeks ago.
On Wednesday, he felt relaxed enough to joke that a mobile phone ringing was another bank going under.
By Thursday, he declared diplomatic war on Iceland over its “illegal” refusal to pay back billions of pounds of British savers’ money, using anti-terrorism powers to freeze Icelandic assets.
Critics said he seemed to be milking the prospect of a “Cold War” with Iceland to boost his authority in the global crisis.
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said on Saturday night: “Gordon has had a very good week ... But last week will soon be forgotten when people find they are worse off.”
Another ‘Hail Mary’ move was the recall of Peter Mandelson, who will be introduced as a peer in the House of Lords today.
The controversial reshuffle a week ago appears to have silenced Brown’s party critics for now, but the bad blood spilled less than a month ago cannot be forgotten that easily, some ministers warn.
A few weeks ago, the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell was heard complaining about Brown’s shouting in No 10. And Downing Street e-mails leaked to The Independent on Sunday reveal that the premier became personally involved in a turf war between officials at No 10, who included his spin doctor Damian McBride and strategy chief Stephen Carter - both were moved aside in the reshuffle.
One e-mail sent by a No 10 official at 16.03 on July 23 this year reveals that Brown accused Nick Stace, a PR and campaigns expert brought in to Downing Street by Carter in March, of leaking plans for the PM’s economic relaunch to a newspaper.
The e-mail read: “Everyone knows it was Damian McBride that leaked the memo. (But) when Nick Stace came to work on Saturday, there was an e-mail from GB: ‘Did you leak this?’ Stace has been locked out of the loop ever since.”
As Brown’s stock has soared, David Cameron’s has fallen. The Tory leader will launch a fightback today when he visits the Halifax HQ of HBOS, in line for an emergency takeover by Lloyds, to meet management and workers.
For Brown, it remains to be seen whether his ‘Hail Mary’ pass will end in triumph or defeat. – The Independent | 
