"From hero to zero" - The slide of Gordon Brown (News Feature)

By Anna Tomforde May 11, 2009, 14:01 GMT

London - Since being feted as a hero for saving the world economy at the Group of 20 (G20) summit just a few weeks ago, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has had little to smile about.

It is not for want of trying. Brown, due to mark his second anniversary in power in June, is known to have hired an army of experts advising him on image, hairstyle, dress - and even smiling.

His make-up instructions, it was revealed, include the use of an illuminating foam and the application of a bronzer.

The 58-year-old leader, desperate to shake off his reputation as a dour and unsmiling politician, even tried his luck on YouTube.

But his performance, punctuated by awkward body movements and a forced grin, clashed with the serious content of his message, and proved a widely-mocked PR disaster.

With most newspapers now set on a ruthless anti-Brown crusade, those who still defend the hapless leader warn that his lack of performance skills should not detract from the seriousness of his political goals and, especially, his expertise on the economy.

But, unfortunately for Brown, political events of the past few weeks have served to undermine his standing - despite the considerable successes on the international front.

They range from embarrassing revelations of a Downing Street e-mail smear campaign against opposition politicians to a damaging row over the residency rights for old Gurkha soldiers in Britain, and the widespread exploitation of a parliamentary allowance scheme.

The expenses scandal, the current climax of a string of corrosive news, is especially damaging for the Labour government which, 12 years ago under Tony Blair, came to power with the pledge to end the sleaze that thrived in Britain under Conservative rule.

The scandal, which began several weeks ago with the news that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had put in a claim for the fees of a pornographic video watched by her husband while she was running her ministry in London, has now engulfed parliamentarians of all parties.

Brown himself has been drawn into the controversy after details published by the Daily Telegraph newspaper showed that he paid his brother, Andrew, several thousand pounds on expenses for a cleaner they shared at their London homes.

However, much more serious excesses have since emerged, with leading government ministers being shown to have employed the generous parliamentary allowance system like 'property agents,' selling off second homes at a profit after modernization on expenses in a process called 'flipping.'

There has also been the ridiculous, with some members of parliament claiming for baby's nappies, womens' underwear, luxury pet foods, ride-on lawn mowers and tennis court plumbing.

'We have acted disgracefully and are getting our punishment,' said Community Secretary Hazel Blears, a chief offender on the 'flipping' front. But all involved have insisted that they worked 'within the rules' and that they were 'victims' of a system that was wrong.

Under increasing pressure to say 'sorry,' Brown Monday apologized for 'all parliamentarians' who had done wrong and pledged to 'clean up' the system.

However, after a banking crisis that forced a taxpayer bail-out following a decade of greed there is little sign of the British public, now being buffeted by a severe recession, being in conciliatory mood.

From the voters' point of view, politicians are just as bad as the bankers, angry bloggers write on websites.

For Brown, the timing could not be worse. While even his critics may concede that not all the blame can be laid at his door, his leadership is in the eye of the storm.

An opinion poll published over the weekend showed that popular support for the ruling Labour Party had dropped to 23 per cent- its lowest level since polling began in Britain in 1943 - and roughly on a par with the party's 1980s crisis under then leader Michael Foot.

The European elections in early June, coupled with local elections in some parts of Britain, are seen as an acid test for Brown.

Forecasters predict a result that could see Labour slip to a humiliating third, or even fourth place, in the ranking of Britain's main parties, behind the Liberals and, perhaps, even the overtly- anti European UK Independence Party (UKIP).