AS A BREED politicians do not naturally inspire sympathy from electors and I am more than typical in that respect. But I must admit that I did feel somewhat sorry for Tony Blair this week. Try as he might to get it right, he does seem to be up against it

AS A BREED politicians do not naturally inspire sympathy from electors and I am more than typical in that respect.

But I must admit that I did feel somewhat sorry for Tony Blair this week.

Try as he might to get it right, he does seem to be up against it these days.

He was the golden boy when he swept to power in 1997 in a euphoric Labour victory, and for quite a while it seemed he had a sure and popular touch.

But politics can be a cut-throat business and the knives are out for Tony.

No matter that he has led the country for the best part of a decade, and he wants to chalk up double figures.

One gets the feeling that he may secretly wish to go into the history books as the Labour version of the Iron Lady. Time will tell, but I reckon he will be judged as a bit of a lightweight compared to Maggie.

From what has been going on lately, one would not be surprised to find Tony curled up in some quiet corridor of power mumbling that nobody loves him any more.

Certainly, there are a lot of people in his own party - and a considerable block of trade unionists - who have gone off him and want to see him as yesterday's man.

He will go, of course, as all politicians do, but the interesting thing now is to see how long he manages to hang on.

If it depended on the support of British youth, he would be out the door tomorrow. And there would be no big welcome awaiting Gordon Brown.

A poll among 14 to 19-year-olds revealed this week that 37 per cent of boys and 35 per cent of girls really don't care who will run the country after the Blair era.

Only one in 10 boys said they would back Gordon as the new prime minister and a paltry seven per cent of girls said the same.

In fact, one third of the girls said they would prefer Big Brother winner Pete to be in charge (his speeches would certainly liven up the House of Commons).

Another 12 per cent said their vote would be for controversial TV presenter Russell Brand, but there was consolation of a sort for Gordon in that he beat David Beckham in the popularity stakes. The former England soccer captain was well out of favour, getting just five per cent of the vote.

That unlikely celebrity Pete was also popular among the boys, winning 20 per cent of their vote to be PM. Interestingly, 11 per cent of the lads put their crosses against Welsh songstress Charlotte Church's name.

Don't laugh - how many people would have scoffed just a few years ago if someone had said that muscle-bound actor Arnold Schwarzenegger with a strong Austrian accent would make a good governor of California?

Perhaps Gordon should take up weightlifting if he really wants to make sure of the top job!