November 25, 2007	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 14, 1428

LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced more discouraging polls on Saturday after a bruising week that brought his honeymoon period to a grinding halt.

A string of setbacks have rocked his government and surveys suggest his initial burst of popularity since taking over from Tony Blair in June is well and truly over.

The ICM poll in The Guardian newspaper put support for the main opposition Conservatives on 37 per cent, Brown’s governing Labour Party on 31 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 21 per cent.

A grim week for Brown has seen the revelation that the confidential data of 25 million people — approaching half the population — has been lost in the post. Finance minister Alistair Darling was accused of trying to cover up details of the fiasco.

Furthermore, five former heads of the armed forces have accused Brown of neglecting the military and the bail-out of the Northern Rock bank has raised questions about the government’s competence and whether taxpayers will get all their money back.

Bird flu-related culls and a probable new foot and mouth leak seem the least of Brown’s troubles.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper listed “the week’s disasters” and concluded Brown had “neither the people nor the structures in place to deal with tough times, let alone crises.

“The British public does not forgive indecision in an era of rising anxiety,” it said, calling for a cabinet reshuffle to restore confidence.

The Daily Mail commented: “The waste, incompetence and folly revealed this week have already made an impact. The political climate is changing.”

Citing its poll, The Guardian said Labour’s support had dropped to the “rock bottom” level hit in the final months of Blair’s premiership.

ICM interviewed 1,005 adults on Wednesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile newspapers weighed into the debate on Brown’s attitude towards the military, which is losing troops in Iraq and fierce fighting in Afghanistan.

A chorus of opposition politicians and top military men have said defence funding is not high enough to cope with fighting on two fronts.

The five former heads of the armed forces on Friday strongly criticised Brown’s stance, with one suggesting he treated the military “with contempt”.

Brown, in the Ugandan capital Kampala for the Commonwealth leaders’ summit, has protested that defence spending had increased year-on-year since Labour took office in 1997.

“Gordon Brown fools no-one by protesting he is doing his best for our armed forces,” as spending had plunged as a percentage of the overall budget, said The Sun.

“The vital post of defence secretary has been downgraded to a part-time role, carried out by dismal Des Browne, also Scottish secretary.

“The truth is our boys are starved of equipment and housed in slums with their pay and morale at rock bottom.”

The Times said whether or not Browne had few duties as Scottish secretary, “it is the perception within the armed forces and more generally in the country, that the government does not take defence seriously that is so damaging,” said The Times.

“The tone of indifference is set by the prime minister.”

Meanwhile the upcoming Better Government Initiative findings will blast “serious deficiencies” in the way public life has been run under Labour, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The reports by a cross-party group of establishment grandees, due out in the coming weeks, will tell a tale of widespread ministerial waste and interference, the broadsheet said.

“What has really damaged the public’s trust in politics is the failure to live up to promises,” said former government adviser Christopher Foster, who organised the initiative.

He predicted trouble ahead for Brown, who spent 10 years as Blair’s finance minister.

“There are a lot of things he’s inherited — some of which no doubt he can be blamed for himself — that are coming back to haunt him.”—AFP