The wheel of fortune turns swiftly in politics. Gordon Brown pulled off the G20 meeting in London on April 2nd, emerging with a plausible aura of global statesmanship. After a handful of Labour sleaze stories and a misguided statement on YouTube, the prime minister looked more like Richard Nixon: shifty, angry and with a list of enemies to smear. And that was before a downright dishonest budget on April 22nd. The budget was a crucial one, for two reasons. First, Mr Brown is running out of time-he has to hold an election by June 2010-and Britain seems increasingly fed up with him. The public regards his party with distaste (see page 40).
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