Brown and out

April is over. And with it, surely, Labour's re-election hopes at the next national poll.

They say it never rains, but pours. For Gordon Brown, April - with its attendant showers - has been torrential. First 'porno-gate', then 'smear-gate', then 'smiley-You Tube video-gate', and, finally, 'budget-gate'. No wonder that Labour's poll ratings are collapsing faster than Britain's house prices.

It is almost inevitable that the electorate will tire of the same old faces - Gordon's looks older by the day - and that the press will ignore policy in favour of tittle-tattle about expenses claims for porn, and the like. But the current lot don't do themselves any favours.

A lot of the policy and posturing at the minute looks party political. To an extent, this should be expected - Labour is a political party. But the actions of Brown et al recently nods to a more guileful bent - one that places political maneouvering above the object of government.

This is a shame. One of the great achievements of the Labour government was attention on outcomes, without so much emphasis on means. Now the balance is shifting in the other direction - for example, the Budget was miserly, but gave the appearence of a triumph for the working man over his baron paymasters (in truth, a 50% top rate tax band will generate comparatively little compared to the duty hikes in the budget which will hit lower income earners).

Tony Blair once said that: "Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile." On the basis of the past month, Labour will end the next election with neither.