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The global financial crisis has thrown British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his ruling Labour party a lifeline in the battle to avoid a crushing defeat by the opposition Conservatives in the next parliamentary election.
The credit crunch has hit Britain hard, with economists predicting the first recession since the early 1990s and hundreds of thousands of job losses, all at a time when the cost of living is rising at its fastest pace in at least a decade.
The Conservatives have enjoyed a consistent opinion poll lead this year but the respect and experience Brown gained in a decade as finance minister appears to be serving him well at a time of deep economic crisis, political analysts say.
He has at least temporarily seen off a rebellion by some members of his own party and opinion polls suggest voters, who only last month seemed eager to throw out the Labour government, are warming back to the 57-year-old Scot.
"It's a helpful setting for him in these circumstances. There is a tendency for people to turn to the government more," said Wyn Grant, politics professor at the University of Warwick.
The Conservatives' opinion poll lead halved in the last week after pointing to a landslide win in a parliamentary election due by May 2010. The polls now suggest the Conservatives would win a more modest 50-seat majority.
"There's a long way to go and lots of uncertainty," Grant said. "If they (voters) feel that Labour has managed the crisis well and things are starting to look up this might help Labour and you might get a much closer contest."
RATINGS BATTLE
Brown was feted when he took over the premiership from Tony Blair in June last year.
Many Labour supporters saw him as closer to the party's left-wing roots and the public regarded him as a refreshing change after the more media-savvy Blair, who had fallen out of favour after 10 years in power.
But Brown's own standing fell when he chose not to cash in on his popularity by calling an early election, opening himself to criticism he was a leader without a mandate from the public.
Two British banks have since failed and Britain's largest mortgage lender has been rescued in the economic downturn.
Labour lost its parliamentary seat in the Glasgow East constituency, one of its traditional strongholds, in July and was routed by the Conservatives in local elections in May.
Annual inflation is running at around 4.8 percent and unemployment, now 5.5 percent, is running at its highest rate since 1999. House prices are falling at the fastest rate since the housing market crash of the early 1990s — September prices were 12.4 percent more than a year earlier.
But an opinion poll this week showed 43 percent of voters want Brown in charge during a crisis, compared with 33 percent for Conservative leader David Cameron.
Although Brown was accused of dithering last year when mortgage bank Northern Rock became a victim of the credit crunch, his response to the latest turbulence has been swift.
He helped broker a rescue takeover of HBOS bank by Lloyds last month and the government stepped in quickly to nationalise parts of mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley.
CAMERON WAITS IN THE WINGS
Fears of a severe fallout from the credit crunch have spread from high-flying financiers to poorer households and stole the headlines from this week's Conservative Party conference, an event once trailed as a showcase for a government-in-waiting.
Cameron, 41, tried to stem Brown's resurgence in the polls by making a sober, statesman-like speech at the conference, warning his party it would face lean times if it came to power.
He is wary of being seen as exploiting the financial crisis for political ends.
"We are at a very difficult stage where stability must come first otherwise people are going to desert us," Conservative shadow business minister Alan Duncan said at the conference.
Cameron outlined how he might govern, saying public finances should be sorted out by cutting government spending and promising no immediate tax cuts for individuals — although he wants his traditionally-business friendly party to find a way to cut corporation tax.
"You would expect Brown to get a bit of an up, but if I was in Cameron's shoes I'd say 'so be it'. To go against that too much might be counterproductive and people wouldn't thank you for it," said Institute of Directors chief Miles Templeman.
Aides to Brown have been encouraged by the impact of a recent remark by the prime minister that this is no time for a novice, a jibe that stung Cameron.
A trip last week in which he addressed the United Nations and met U.S. President George Bush underlined Brown's standing on the global stage.
But Brown will also need to show Labour has the energy and vision to win for a fourth term after 11 years in power. Once the credit crunch has been addressed, Brown may then have to deal with the political fallout from a recession.
The doubts of even some Labour supporters highlight the difficulties ahead.
"Sometimes people think 'better the devil you know than the one you don't' but perhaps Labour have had their time for now," said Gillian Chippendale, 62, a Labour supporter from the central city of Birmingham.
