Brown needs to connect with bloke Britain

There is method in this choice, at a time when the PM's controversial bank bail-outs are rising in cost, the unemployment figures trending upwards and the Government on the run. He doesn't really want to talk about sport at all - but badly wants to communicate with the people who do, namely Bloke Britain.

Mr Brown knows that he is facing a sustained trough in the polls and that if he cannot get out of it, his chances of entering the next election campaign in serious contention for government may well weaken irretrievably.

In particular, he needs to re-attract a group of his core supporters who have fallen away in the financial crisis: middle-aged men.

Traditionally the PM had difficulty appealing to women voters, who found him distant and unemotional.

But since the beginning of the year, he has also lost standing with male voters, according to Labour's private polling. They are more likely to feel personally aggrieved by unemployment or the threat of it - and more inclined to feel punitive towards the Government.

"Gordon badly needs to reconnect with men," says one No 10 insider. "For too long, everyone was watching the wrong ball: it's the bloke-on-the-sofa vote we need to keep fighting for."

Hence, in the eye of the storm, the foray into bloke radio.