The week that brought Gordon Brown to the brink. Can he survive?

Gordon Brown shared a joke with Barack Obama yesterday morning but he struggled to find anything cheerful about the rest of his week. The disastrous result in the Glasgow East byelection has sparked anxiety within government at the prospect of a meltdown at the next election. The coming month will be crucial as the Prime Minister seeks to regain his grip on the country - and his party Only a few hundred yards, and a few minutes, separated the two encounters. But as Barack Obama's entourage moved from his grand reception at Downing Street to a chat with David Cameron in the sun-soaked cloisters of Westminster yesterday, he entered a different world. Gordon Brown pulled out all the stops to show he could do funky-and-relaxed as well as any tieless Tory. The meeting was shifted from his formal study to the pretty garden terrace,... [read full story]