Beleaguered Brown reveals his favourite song... Keep right on to the end of the road

He is not having an easy ride, given that the economy is falling towards recession.

But we can now be fairly confident that Gordon Brown intends to stay put in his job.

For the embattled Prime Minister has given us an insight into his philosophy on dealing with criticism and adversity.

His favourite song is Keep Right On To The End Of The Road.

Mr Brown revealed this not to the Cabinet, nor to his electorate, but to a class of primary school children.

Pupils at Dundee's Sidlaw View school had written to the Premier as part of a music hall project for their end-of-term show, inviting him to name his best-loved song.

The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP quickly replied  -  and nominated the most celebrated work of fellow Scot Sir Harry Lauder.

The former mill worker and comic wrote the song in the dark days after his son John, a captain in the 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was killed in action in 1916 during the First World War.

It was intended to lift the hearts of anyone suffering a similar loss, and to bolster the spirits of soldiers fighting in appalling conditions.

Lauder performed it for the troops in the trenches as part of a repertoire that included another of his best-known works, Roamin' in the Gloamin'.

The song was widely adopted by troops from successive generations (and, incidentally, by Birmingham City football fans).

Pipe dreaming: Scottish comedian Sir Harry Lauder

Years after the war, it clearly made a deep impression on a certain young man with a strong will and great ambitions.

Not to mention a steely determination to carry on regardless, while everything around him threatens to turn to disaster.

Take a look at the lyrics, and it's clear that the song provides the perfect anthem for our Gordon.

'Keep right on to the end of the road,' it goes. 'Keep right on to the end. Tho' the way be long, let your heart be strong; keep right on round the bend...'

Tired and weary, Gordon? 'Journey on,' the song advises. Long steep hill to climb? Climb it with your 'big stout heart'.

Granted, the polls might show Mr Brown to be the most unpopular leader for decades, and Opposition MPs may be calling for his scalp after the spectre of yet another damaging Commons debacle. But, as the song says: 'Onward we must go.'

Little wonder it tops Gordon's playlist. Why, you can almost picture him singing it in the bath every night.

Mr Brown is not the first leader to betray a fondness for songs that may mirror character. Margaret Thatcher chose Two Little Boys as her favourite  -  a Rolf Harris song about loyalty, and friends who help each other.

And former Yugoslavian tyrant Slobodan Milosevic, who presided over the systematic slaughter of tens of thousands of people, frequently hummed along to Frank Sinatra's My Way.

But will Gordon's anthem be enough to see him through his current crises? Apparently so. For everything he's been dreaming of, it says, will be there at the end of the road.