Think hard. What do the vast majority of us depend on? Dare I write it? Yes, it's the economy. British Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader (at least until Friday if this story is to believed) is by his own admission neither the best communicator nor looker in political life, but he does know how to run the economy in good times and bad.
Reading the UK press, viewing TV or listening to radio over the past couple of years anyone could be forgiven for thinking that the banking crisis was the fault of a Labour government and nothing to do with the bankers, and that the subsequent recapitalisation of the banks through government borrowing was a monumental political error by Labour. Neither contrary proposition is an easy sell. In the televised prime ministerial debate last Thursday Brown was unable to get his opponents to admit this latest recession was completely different from those in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Nor did he secure an admission that the banks that were unable to recapitalise from the markets (which Barclays was able to do) namely, RBS and Lloyds/HBOS had to be bailed out by government.
That doesn't mean it's time to forget that the right judgement calls were made and the economy is now on the up when putting an X-in the box on Thursday 6 May.