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One of Gordon Brown’s favourite speech writers is leaving Number 10 to return to the Treasury. That gives Brown the perfect opportunity to draft in someone who has the ability to coin the kind of phrases that chime with the electorate and stick in people’s minds.

To date, that is something Brown, whose dismal year in office was underlined on Friday with a humiliating fifth place by-election finish for Labour, has signally failed to do. Sure, Brown wanted to move away from the accusations of endless spin that soured the public mood towards his slick predecessor Tony Blair.

But the mantras Brown has chosen to repeat ad nauseum since he took up the mantle of Prime Minister have failed to stick. Stressing how many people Labour has taken out of poverty in the past decade, or the need to take “long-term decisions” just isn’t working.

People need reassurance over fuel and food prices, over crime and security, but perhaps more than anything they need to be convinced Brown understands — and cares.

Brown — nicknamed the Iron Chancellor during his decade at the Treasury — is right to focus on the long-term. He wants to ensure people can afford to buy homes, that the country slashes its reliance on non-environmentally friendly energy, and that taxpayers have access to good healthcare, education and welfare support.

But with voters feeling the pinch, it’s the short term that’s key, and if Brown wants his messages about the kind of place Britain needs to become longer-term to stick, he might need to think about the kind of sound-bite approach that Blair used so well.

Brown’s tried a more “man of the people” approach but that hasn’t convinced. Voters are not warming to the serious, unsmiling Prime Minister. And if Brown can’t change his manner, then he needs to change the kinds of words he uses.

Of course, he will also need some luck. No amount of “in tune” rhetoric is going to help if people continue to feel he’s not the man to lead them through the economic bad times. But at the moment, his language and demeanour seem to compound voters’ unease. The Iron Chancellor risks becoming the leaden Prime Minister of British history: dull, inert and potentially poisonous.

By common consent, Gordon Brown’s first year is ending up as a shocker for Labour.

It may have started well last June with assured handling of a bomb threat and a swift response to the foot and mouth outbreak last August. Pledges to cut back on two largely unpopular measures: Tony Blair’s plans to open “super casinos “and the extension of drinking hours, also struck a chord with voters.

But since the infamous “bottled election” last Autumn, nothing seems to have gone right for the man who waited so long for the top job. The opinion polls are full of doom and Westminster insiders say talk of finding a successor before the expected 2010 election is rife.

Brown’s supporters say it is unfair to blame him for world trends outside his control — it was the credit crunch that began in the U.S. that caused the Northern Rock collapse and what is the British prime minister supposed to do about sky-high world crude prices that are driving up inflation?

What is your verdict on Brown’s first year?

The ever increasing tax burden and Gordon Brown’s woes dominate the front pages today.

The Daily Telegraph reports research has shown that the average motorist is paying more than £600 a year extra in tax under Labour. Story here

The tax burden also makes front page news in the Daily Express which says Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been warned that he must stop tax rises or face defeat in the next election. Story here

The Daily Mail says price rises mean families have less to spend than for 17 years. Story here

Brown’s style of leadership and signs that support for him in his own party is waning also feature heavily on the front pages. The Times says more than half of Labour supporters believe that Brown should stand down to make way for a more electable politician. Story here

Brown also faces new threats to his authority over Scottish independence, 42-days detention and the 10p tax climbdown, The Guardian says. Story here

The Independent leads with the cyclone in Myanmar, saying the country’s military government is obstructing global aid efforts. Story here

The Sun also focuses on the Myanmar cyclone, the “Tide of Death” as it says. Story here

(Updated on May 3 with new headline, election results, reaction and photos)

**For full coverage of the elections go to our special page**

The man described by some as a joke, by others as a brilliant mind has ended Ken Livingstone’s eight-year reign at City Hall.

The verdict is still out on what exactly Boris Johnson’s victory means for the Conservative Party overall but his performance as mayor could help determine whether people will vote for the Tories in a general election next time.

Johnson, whose experience of running big projects is limited, will lead one of the world’s most high-profile cities with an 11.3 billion pound budget to run public transport, police and fire services and promote the economy of this global financial centre.

The Labour Party may be hoping that the gaffe-prone “blond bombshell” will prove incapable of doing the job and thus damage the Conservatives chances of winning the next election. Johnson will have to get cracking soon with strong policies to bolster his image and become the ambassador that the Tories need him to be as the capital’s mayor.

Johnson paid generous tribute to Livingstone in his victory speech, describing him as “a very considerable public servant” and acknowledging that many who had voted for him had been wavering when it came to casting their votes.

“You shaped the office of mayor. You gave it national prominence and when London was attacked on 7 July 2005 you spoke for London,” Johnson said after he was declared winner in what had turned out to be a marathon vote count lasting well over 12 hours, partly due to a record turnout of 45 percent.

Livingstone in return offered to help Johnson and said that the responsibility for his defeat lay with him and him alone.

The Conservative candidate won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Livingstone’s 1,028,966.

Source: London Elects

The Johnson victory in London has added to Conservative delight at pushing Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party to its worst performance on record in local elections elsewhere in England and Wales.

Senior Conservative sources said they would be “gobsmacked” if Johnson did not win the mayoral contest, the Daily Telegraph said.

Even Minister for London Tessa Jowell conceded as we waited for the final result: “You’re absolutely right that it looks, at the moment, as if Boris Johnson is ahead,” she told the BBC.

Confidence of a Tory win was boosted after one bookmaker announced it was paying out on a Boris Johnson victory hours before the official result is expected later this evening.

Opinion polls had put Livingstone and Johnson neck-and-neck, with LibDem candidate Brian Paddick a distant third.

As house prices have risen over the years, so have arguments over inheritance tax.

No longer the death duty of old, forcing the impoverished aristocracy to flog a few paintings from the family collection now and again, IHT has hit mainstream middle England. It has arguably overtaken council tax as the most politicised duty after income tax — witness the electric effect on Conservative fortunes when they pledged to raise the threshold to one million pounds at last Autumn’s party conference.

Opponents say IHT is basically unfair, the final insult that plunders estates on which all sorts of tax has already been paid and which grabs our money from the hands of our children.

But many in the Labour party see it as a wrecking ball to help demolish the walls of social inequality, as an open letter to Gordon Brown from a group of Labour MPs and academics shows.

Reduce IHT and you reduce your chances of encouraging social mobility and spreading the benefits of wealth, they say.

Do you agree? Should inheritance tax be going up, rather than down?

Every time Labour ministers call the Conservative candidate for London mayor by first name alone they’ll have to pay £5 into a ’swear box’.

“What we have to avoid is a situation where people think this election is a joke and that the future of London is not serious,” Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell told Sky News.

If this is all about taking the upcoming election seriously though, why has there been no similar decree regarding “Ken” (Livingstone), the equally maverick Labour candidate? And what will Labour do with all the money it makes from ministers who slip up?