Gordon does it again

THERE'S no getting away from the fact that Gordon Brown is totally in tune with Middle England, and can appeal to natural Tory voters in such a way that it is sending the Conservative Party into absolute panic.

The latest example is his positioning over Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe leader who is presiding over famine and hyper-inflation, while his supporters are allowed to take part in vicious land grabs including the confiscation of property and farms.

The Tories have been pressing for years for tough action against Mugabe, and now they have been trumped again. Our new Prime Minister knows the "kith and kin" argument has a strong resonance in the leafy lanes of Warwickshire, Buckingham, Surrey and all the other shires and so he has announced he will boycott the summit of EU and African nation leaders this December in Portugal if Mugabe attends.

Gordon Brown is the consummate politician of our age. Although he is not invincible, he seems to be leaving everyone standing in his wake. The puzzle is why he retreated under pressure in 1994 to allow Tony Blair to take over the Labour Party, leaving him frustrated for 13 long years.