Britain:Gordon Brown's honeymoon period appeared finally over yesterday with a new opinion poll putting the Conservatives six points ahead of Labour while the British prime minister's personal approval ratings plunged to an all-time low.
This personal blow to Mr Brown came as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats warned that his government risked undermining public confidence because of conflicting briefings and assessments about the state of Britain's security and the scale of the threat it faces from international terrorism.
It also coincided with renewed tensions between New Labour's Brownite and Blairite camps; reports of ministerial and civil service concern that Mr Brown's reputed "control freak" tendencies are back in play; and continuing embarrassment for Downing Street and the foreign office after Number 10's intervention forced foreign secretary David Miliband to dilute a pro-European speech in Bruges last Thursday.
Mr Miliband's office had briefed in advance that he would call for an "EU capabilities charter" to bolster Europe's defence, a move certain to be seen by the Murdoch press and other supporters of the transatlantic alliance as a step toward an EU alternative to Nato.
According to one account yesterday, when the Sun asked about this "defence charter" the prime minister's spokesman replied it was not in the text. The Miliband camp regarded this as hostile briefing, enabling journalists to report that the foreign secretary had been over-ruled by Mr Brown and put firmly in his place.
While both sides denied this and insisted the two men work well together, there was further embarrassment as it emerged that - during a visit to Mr Miliband's South Shields constituency last week - Tony Blair refused to deny that the foreign secretary had been his chosen successor. When asked by the Shields Gazette if he thought Mr Miliband his natural heir, Mr Blair reportedly replied: "I'm very proud of him. It's a great achievement to become foreign secretary, but it's down to David to decide that, not me."
Asked in turn if he thought Mr Brown was doing well, Mr Blair replied: "Erm, yes. That's all I'm saying, otherwise I might get into trouble."
Meanwhile, the sense of a variety of senior ministers in trouble, or at least proving accident-prone, was again heightened when security minister Lord West claimed there had been a "dramatic improvement" in security measures since Mr Brown became prime minister and that Britain was now a "world leader" in terms of anti-terrorist measures. Lord West told the Sunday Telegraph the UK was already "ahead of all countries in the world on the protection front". While still talking about "a 30-year battle" against terrorism, Lord West also said he believed the new measures would see the UK soon facing a "steadily declining threat".
Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis contrasted this with the head of MI5's recently stated view that the domestic security threat had not yet "reached its peak" and that it would not be possible to cover every potential threat. "It is not likely to enhance public confidence when the head of the security service and the security minister give such inconsistent assessments," said Mr Davis.
Liberal Democrat leadership contender Nick Clegg echoed the complaint, citing Lord West's U-turn last week on the pre-charge detention of terror suspects, saying: "First Lord West flip-flops over 28 days, then he brags about Britain's preparedness. This is not the way to improve public confidence in national security."