Last year when Gordon Brown was in India as the British Chancellor, he had to contend with the rise of a certain Shilpa Shetty on the British cultural firmament. As he visits India now after assuming the mantle of British prime minister, he is having to contend with his own fall in British politics best captured in the remarks of Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, in the House of Commons, “This House has noted the prime minister’s remarkable transformation from Stalin to Mr Bean,” that contrasted his earlier reputation as a Stalinist control freak with the appearance of a hapless, bumbling Mr Bean stumbling from one crisis to another.

It all started last October when Brown indicated that he would be calling an early general election to get a popular mandate from the British people for his premiership but then decided to call it off once he realised that the Conservatives were actually doing better than expected in opinion polls. Since then it has been a virtual freefall in the support for Labour with Brown’s leadership devoid of any quality to pull it out of the rut. Most recently, Brown has refused to ask for the resignation of one of his prominent cabinet ministers, despite calling him “incompetent”. The contrast between a decisive and determined Tony Blair, with all his faults, and an indecisive and dithering Brown is all the more jarring.

And as the Tories rise steadily in the polls under a more telegenic David Cameron, British politics seems set for another major shift comparable to the one witnessed in 1997 when the New Labour swept to power with a staggering mandate.

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