"Just 28 percent of British voters think Gordon Brown has the necessary character to be an effective prime minister, according to an opinion poll published this week. Sixty percent of respondents say he does not. The most amazing thing about it? That was the best poll Brown and his ruling Labour Party have seen in 18 months. Indeed, the poll put Labour just two points behind David Cameron's Conservatives and within theoretical reach of a historic fourth term. Just three months ago, such a prospect seemed laughably implausible. Brown — uncharismatic, dour, hapless, and unpopular — had spent last fall fighting off an attempted coup launched by members of his own cabinet, while the Tories bathed in the comfort of a double-digit lead in the polls".