So who's up for a leadership battle? The photo-shoot Gordon didn't want...but at least he was wearing his seat belt!

It could be a scene from Apocalypse Now – apart, that is, from the forced smile, safety-first seat belt and dark blue suit worn by Gordon Brown as he visited British troops in Baghdad yesterday.

Unfortunately, the Prime Minister’s attempt to boost his image by posing as an action man with the troops didn’t quite go to plan.

It went wrong shortly after he arrived at Baghdad Airport, when he banged his head painfully as he left the RAF Hercules transport plane which had flown him in.

Staring down the barrel: Gordon Brown on board the RAF Puma. Scroll down for a description of the kit on the helicopter



Then it got even worse when he switched to an RAF Puma helicopter to take him into the ‘Green Zone’ in the city centre.

After strapping himself in and donning an uncomfortable-looking flak jacket – something image obsessed Tony Blair always avoided on such trips – Mr Brown decided to have a chat with the airman in charge of the machine gun poking out of the side of the helicopter in case of attack.

As they chatted, the airman let go of the gun, which swung round and came to rest directly in front of Mr Brown, making it appear as though he were the gunner.

A Press photographer travelling with Mr Brown seized the moment and started taking pictures of the smiling Premier.

One of Mr Brown’s No10 secretaries immediately spotted the impending public-relations gaffe and frantically waved her arms, gesturing the photographer to stop.

But it was too late.

When a Downing Street Press officer was alerted to what had happened, he examined the photos and ‘went white with shock’, according to one witness.

By then, thanks to modern technology, the photographs of Mr Brown, once again looking more like Mr Bean than a world statesman, were already halfway round the world.