Brown

Given that disappointing economic situation, perhaps it is not surprising that Brown has become particularly vulnerable to criticism of his leadership. And it is a second crisis that is now providing his greatest test since he took power.

The crisis is over Parliament members' (MPs) free spending of their government-provided expense accounts. The accounts are sums of money separate from their salaries that MPs are entitled to use to cover expenses associated with their work, such as travel costs.

But for weeks now Britain has seen revelation after revelation that many MPs used their expense accounts to pay for purely personal pleasures. And those pleasures have included everything from buying large-screen TVs to repairing home swimming pools to even purchasing pornography.

The legislators are from both Brown's ruling Labour Party and the opposition Conservatives. But it is Brown, as the top political leader in the country, who has become the target of the public's ire at a time when ordinary people have trouble paying simple bills.

Brown has repeatedly vowed to restore order. But amid the multiple crises, his to-do list seems only to grow longer.

"We've got to clean up the electoral system and we're doing that, we're cleaning up the expenses system," he said on June 3. "The second thing we're doing is cleaning up the economy and making sure that the economy comes out of recession."