GORDON BROWN denied he was a "superhero" today as ministers began to worry that the economic crisis will soon be affecting ordinary families.

At a press conference with the foreign media, Mr Brown was asked if he considered himself to be a superhero and if he was Flash Gordon, to which he replied: "Just Gordon, I can assure you."

The Prime Minister found himself being heaped with praise around the world for his banking rescue plan.

Even the French daily Le Monde joined in, describing it as "an English triumph" and hailing him as "the magician of Anglo Saxon social-liberalism".

But Mr Brown tried to douse the praise saying: "Politics, I have found, is about ups and downs." Ministers fear praise of the Mr Brown should not be allowed to get out of control in case the public react with anger when the "real economy" is affected by the downturn.

But David Cameron today claimed that Mr Brown had simply been following the Tories' lead in tackling the banking crisis. "I said at the beginning of our conference it may be necessary to do something very big and I had the idea of putting taxpayers' money into banks," he told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine programme.

Mr Cameron rejected suggestions that Mr Brown's fortunes had recovered, citing his call for bonus cuts at last week's Prime Minister's Questions.

"What matters more than appearance is the substance. The substance is that I said: 'No bonuses for senior executives in banks getting taxpayers' money and a week later the Prime Minister did pretty much that."

The Conservative leader attacked Mr Brown for changing City regulation in 1997. "He took the Bank of England out of the scene of regulating the level of debt in the economy," Mr Cameron said. "And we are paying for it now."

Mr Brown also said at his press conference that he will outline plans tomorrow for new global financial rules.

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