GORDON Brown has completed his first six weeks as Prime Minister and it has been a baptism of fire.

His elevation to Number 10 coincided with terror attacks in London and Glasgow. That was followed by the national disaster brought by the worst flooding in a generation, and now we are in the midst of a foot-and-mouth crisis.

And we believe it is a case of so far so good for the new Prime Minister.

Fears that he lacked the necessary charisma to succeed Tony Blair - that he would be too dour - have proved to be ill-founded.

Indeed, there is a sense of relief that the political showmanship of Blair has been replaced by the solid, dependable, calm approach of Brown.

It was time for change because people had understandably grown tired of the Blair style of leadership after a decade and, while we recognise that these are very early days, the change has been a positive one.

All of which is not good news for Tory leader David Cameron, who is having a troubled run, with a poor showing in recent by-elections, and party members questioning his leadership.

This week's announcement by North-East multi-millionaire Tom Cowie that he is to stop providing financial support to the Conservatives because he is disillusioned with Mr Cameron has rubbed salt in the wounds.

After the lack of satisfactory progress under William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, the last thing the Tories need now is another lame duck leader.

It is also the last thing the country needs because strong opposition aids effective government.