LONDON — It is perhaps a measure of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's desire to connect with the American people during his visit to the U.S. this week that he seeded the ground with a recent appearance on a special charity edition of "American Idol."
The usually gruff prime minister smiled for all he was worth during his brief taped message and announced that Britain would buy 20 million new mosquito nets to help end malaria in Africa. "All year on 'Idol,' it's the talent of the American people we admire. But tonight, it's your generosity," he said. "Thank you, and God bless you all."
If the gesture stirs up some goodwill ahead of Brown's three-day trip to New York and Washington, it will be a welcome antidote for the prime minister. He has aroused unease in Washington over Britain's unfolding disengagement in Iraq, while at home he has been navigating political depths most politicians explore only in their nightmares.
Though fairly popular last summer and fall after easing out Prime Minister Tony Blair, Brown over the last few months has managed to execute a near-perfect political swan dive.
Caught up in the U.S.-initiated sub-prime mortgage crisis, closures of post offices, unpopular legislation to detain terrorism suspects for up to 42 days without charge and the phasing out of a 10% tax bracket for low-income citizens, Brown has come close to setting records for how quickly a prime minister can fall out of favor.
A YouGov poll last week for the Sunday Times found that Brown's personal rating had plunged farther and faster than that of any British leader since political polling of positive and negative perceptions began in the 1930s. He has fallen from plus 48 after he took office nine months ago to minus 37.
"The collapse is the most dramatic of any modern-day prime minister, worse even than Neville Chamberlain, who in 1940 dropped from plus 21 to minus 27 after Hitler's invasion of Norway," the Times reported.
Perhaps even more biting for Brown, who made his reputation as Britain's skillful treasury chief under Blair, a Financial Times poll this week found that 68% of Britons were "not confident at all" in the prime minister's ability to steer the country through the global financial crisis.
"A lot of us were very, very supportive of Gordon assuming the leadership, and he started out extremely well. But he has slightly disappointed us since," said Des Turner, one of a growing number of Labor Party lawmakers who are worried Brown's performance could leave the party at risk of losing the next elections, after 11 years in power.
