Time was that economic competence was the mark of this Labour government.
But today, with shares hitting lows not seen since 9/11, record defecits in December and most of all the continuing balls-up that is Northern Rock, it seems that Brown is no longer the master he once was.
The shameful spectacle of 25 billion pounds being pumped into a dodgy bank has not been helped by the Chancellor and Treasury's seeming lack of an exit strategy.
His latest suggestion is to convert the money into bonds and sell them to investors.
It is pretty clear that they should have let the bank die, and tough on those who had left their savings with the bank, or nationalised the thing in the first place.
While it would have been hard on those people who had deposited money with Northern Rock, the fact is that putting your money in the bank is not 100% guaranteed.
Similarly, pumping tens of billions of pounds into the coffers of a private financial institution was madness and there is no clear route out for the government.
It seems that Alastair Darling's promotion to Chancellor was a poisoned chalice. Meanwhile the Tories and Lib Dems are crowing from the sidelines.
The increasinlgy impressive George Osborne pointed out in the Commons today that not since the nightmares of the 1970s has so much public money been funnelled into a British company, and never on this scale.
Even in the best-case scenario in which Northern Rock's debt is all paid back, albeit over at least five years, the Labour government's reputation for economic competence is ruined forever.
