COMETH THE hour, cometh the man is a sporting cliché whose origins are difficult to trace.Its undoubted relevance on the field of play is matched by its regular appearance as a suitable metaphor for political achievement - or of political resurrection. This latter sense aptly describes its application to British prime minister Gordon Brown in recent days
He is widely credited with rising to the challenge of the banking crisis by proposing a national solution which became a template for international action.
Suddenly Mr Brown has recovered the authority and credibility that steadily bled away from him months after he replaced Tony Blair in July last year. His decade long experience as chancellor of the exchequer from 1997 gave him an expertise that was indispensable during this banking crisis. This has shown up in his treatment of its three principal elements: capital replenishment, facilitating liquidity and creating a new regulatory framework for financial institutions. They were drawn together skilfully by his government and implemented in timely fashion over the last week.
Their international relevance was immediately recognised, notably at the weekend meeting of euro zone states in Paris, followed by Monday's quasi-nationalisation of banks in Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Italy and Portugal - and then in the United States where the Paulson $700 billion package has been used to allow public equity investment in them too. It is a remarkable turnaround sparked by a genuine existential crisis. Its logic brings his government closer to the European mainstream than it has been for many years as EU leaders meet today and tomorrow in Brussels.
Mr Brown has not been slow to claim credit for this new model banking system. Nor did he hesitate to project it around the rest of the world as a successor to the deregulated credit-driven Anglo-American system he himself championed as chancellor. His repeated claim to have eliminated its cycles of boom and bust ring hollow now; but that is overlooked in the moment of crisis as he calls for renegotiation of the international regulatory framework.
Critics warn that Mr Brown's renewed confidence and appeal to voters will fade again when the likely economic consequences of these turbulent days come through. Growing job losses, repossessions, declining living standards, increased taxation and inflation are expected in Britain and elsewhere if the huge cost of bank rescues is not matched by renewed growth.