Now PM's the weakest link

WHO’S afraid of Gordon Brown — aside from the British taxpayer? Certainly no one in his Cabinet. Not any more.

“His authority has collapsed,” one minister tells me. “We all do what we want now.”

And weirdly, it’s not going badly.

We’ve had days of good moves from the government. But Gordo’s reputation is in the gutter, no one believes it.

Take welfare. The new blueprint from James Purnell is choc-full of radical, badly-needed proposals — a ‘tough love’ revolution.

At long last, we’ll have ‘work- for-dole’ plans. Those who refuse to work will have benefits cut, by private back-to-work firms.

The plan admits welfare dependency is a social evil, and even says today’s system bankrolls three out of four UK drug addicts.

Even the Tories can’t find a bad word to say about all this. They saluted Purnell for being “brave” and pledged to support him.

Why “brave”? Because these are the proposals Brown junked a year ago — seeing it as nasty Tony Blair- style privatisation.

Control freak

A year ago, of course, Gordo had the power to ditch things he hated. Not any more. The control freak has lost control.

The Ministry of Defence has also taken advantage of this to push through its new plans for troop welfare.

It’s all great stuff. Top compensation to wounded soldiers doubles to £570,000. Free education for anyone with six years’ service.

It was a victory for Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the Army, who has spoken out for better conditions, not caring what Brown thinks.

In true military style, he spotted a weakness — the PM’s indecision — and moved in. And last week, he won. The machine is now running the Prime Minister, not the other way around. In welfare and defence, this is a good thing.

But the machine is also hungry for YOUR cash. And Brown is powerless to stop it, as he also admitted this week.

His decision to tear up his financial rules is the final admission of defeat. He can’t control the budgets, so he’ll just borrow.

Make no mistake — WE will pick up the tab for debt. And the way things are going, our children will be paying it off too.

Poor Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, says he is feeling the pinch — and has stopped buying ties. As if that will help anyone.

For the record, the national debt is rising by £1,500 every second. Cutting down on his Primark shopping bill won’t do much good.

But even Darling felt able to say yesterday, “of course I can stand up to Gordon”. Subtext: “if he thinks he’s hard enough”.

Visitors to Gordo’s country retreat at Chequers say he looks battered and exhausted. Life for him is just one crisis after another.

The Labour Party has not run out of energy or ideas. But its leader certainly has, and in politics, this is all that matters.

It’s a curse. The last Tory government actually had plenty of good ideas. But no one noticed because John Major was such a plonker.

The Curse of the Weak Leader has hit Labour. It could announce a cure for cancer and find Osama bin Laden, and still get no credit.

The public’s patience has run out. Bills are soaring, jobs are going. It’s clear to everyone that the plot has been irretrievably lost.

In Ireland, they’re cutting government spending. That’s leadership. In America, they’re cutting tax. That’s leadership.

But now, Britain has no leadership. Just a dark, yawning vacuum where a Prime Minister should be.