Comment: The PM speaks, no one listens

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Lord Turner, the next head of the Financial Services Authority, is a trusted adviser to Gordon Brown on the environment. His comments to this paper, therefore, casting doubt over the wisdom of imposing swingeing vehicle excise duty on cars bought as long ago as 2001, carry more weight than most - though, as it happens, they reflect the views of a number of backbench Labour MPs. "As far as possible," he said, "we should set these things out in advance." It is precisely this sentiment which is increasingly widespread: that a worrying number of Government decisions on tax are ill-thought through, creating popular bad feeling when their implications finally become apparent. For good measure, Lord Turner also confirmed that Britain may well slide into recession, though the impact may be less severe than in the early Nineties. Here he is merely saying, in a restrained fashion, what the British Chambers of Commerce said more forcefully this week.

In these circumstances, Gordon Brown's declaration this week, that "I am the right person to take people through these difficult times", was almost comically unrealistic. Certainly, it was universally disregarded. This loss of credibility in the course of a single year is quite remarkable. The latest suggestion - that Harriet Harman, the deputy leader, apparently bounced Mr Brown into a change in the timetable for the Government's embryology bill, in order to promote her agenda of abortion reform - is less interesting in itself than as a demonstration of the Prime Minister's weakness. Mr Brown has just returned from the G8 summit of leading economic powers, a much-needed opportunity to show himself as a global statesman rather than a mere politician. Yet the truth is that even when Mr Brown is saying perfectly good things, as on Zimbabwe, no one is listening to him.

Perhaps after a much-needed summer holiday, Mr Brown may restore his stamina - at present, he seems chronically tired - and rediscover his ability to connect with the public. But right now, as the economy heads for a fall, it is hard to see what can reverse the downturn in his fortunes.