AS YOU’VE probably guessed, I’m not a committed Labour supporter. But I haven’t condemned Gordon Brown as swiftly as my contemporaries. After the smug and suave Blair years, Mr Brown seems like a welcome change.

Let’s face it; he’s never going to win the charm offensive. If you gave Tony Blair the proposition that ‘Lead boats float better than wood’ he would win every debate. Gordon would need to build one, test it, float it, and sail it across the Atlantic. I don’t think our current PM is going to win anyone over with his charisma, and THAT’S that’s why I’m prepared to give him a chance.

Now, I don’t pretend to be an economist, but I do know the present financial crisis needed urgent action and while the rest of the world froze like terrified rabbits, Mr Brown launched a rescue plan.

I’m not sure if reducing VAT and borrowing trillions will save us from economic meltdown, but I do know that allowing banks to collapse – wiping out our hard-earned savings – would trigger widespread panic. I have no idea what impact Gordon’s master plan will have in the long term, but my instinct tells me to go with it. The alternative is to trust Pinky and Perky whose expertise has hitherto been confined to haggling in the tuck shop at Eaton.

Of course, Gordon’s a Public Relations liability with his ill-fitting suits, inane grin and odd mannerisms, and that’s precisely why I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. We’ve done young, suave and trendy and look where that got us. We’re mired waist deep in an illegal war thanks to young suave and trendy. If I have to put my money where my mouth is, I’m going with Not-So-Flash Gordon.

Pinky and Perky have a lot of growing up to do.

The views on this page are Vic Barlow's and not necessarily those of the Express