There are still plenty of hurdles in Brown’s way

Recession.  Glenrothes.  Unimpressive poll gains.  Whilst Gordon Brown may be enjoying the recent, Mandelson-orchesrated hijinks, there are certainly plenty of potential blots on his horizon.  Martin Bright adds a relatively undernoticed – but oh-so-significant – one to the list, in his latest blog post:

“The polling remains dismal for Labour, though. The government’s electoral recovery is slipping despite admiration for Brown’s handling of the crisis within the Westminster village. The latest Guardian/ICM poll had the Conservatives on 42 per cent and Labour on 30 – a 12-point gap, which remains unchanged from the same poll a month ago.

As we move towards this winter’s pre-Budget report, the thoughts of Labour backbenchers will turn once more to the package the Chancellor has prepared to compensate their constituents for the abolition of the 10p tax rate and measures to protect people against the ravages of the credit crunch. As the rebel MP Frank Field has noted, there is plenty of scope for critics of the Prime Minister to regroup if the measures are not seen to be adequate.”To