He comments on Boyle and Goody but not a major national issue

The release of the Lockerbie bomber has escalated from embarrassment to crisis with the Obama administration declaring the decision "a mistake" and head of the FBI railing at a "mockery of the rule of law".

Mr Brown is also in the dock for failing to issue speedy congratulations when England triumphed in the Ashes. If Her Majesty could get round to a pat on the back, so surely could Mr Brown.

The Prime Minister has an entire staff dedicated to ensuring that he communicates strategically with us but is sometimes absent when his voice would be welcome.

The reason lies in his political character. He is a natural blame shifter, his foes claim: always ready to take credit but keen to offload responsibility for anything that might be troublesome.

The Lockerbie release presented just such an example.

Any benefits in terms of trade deals and future jobs will be felt only gradually, whereas the risk of the release and jubilation in Tripoli are witnessed instantaneously.

Theoretically this is a Scottish decision -or mis-decision as it turns out. But no one who looks at the subterranean web of contacts between Britain and Libya can be in much doubt that Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi's release was always a key part of any dealings with Colonel Gaddafi, who has turned the case into a token of national pride.

The terrorist attack was not conducted against Scotland, but against Britain and America, and that rightly arouses strong feeling that the perpetrator should serve out the sentence.

So Mr Brown looks doubly foolish. He insisted he was hard at work during his holiday but when the most serious diplomatic incident of his time in office blew up, delegated the matter to junior ministers.

Mr Brown has historically been reticent on a number of issues which it did not suit him to comment on.

The difference is that he is now in the top job which demands accountability at all times and a sense of national presence. That, after all, is the point of it.

He has learned to comment on Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle and the death of Jade Goody.

What is missing is a sense of spontaneous engagement with the national debate.

Whether it's about sending a quick thumbs-up to the England cricketers, or judging that the Lockerbie decision was one which would cause ill feeling and needed to be engaged with by Downing Street, Mr Brown hasn't got the personal touch. It is the longest apprenticeship in history.