Cpl Brown's Dad's Army Fightback

Corporal Brown and his Dad's Army ministers are on a suicide mission to convince fed-up voters the unwinnable Afghan war is worth the loss of so many lives. Today battle-scared Brown will try to rally the troops after coming under unfriendly fire from his own side with a warning to get a grip on his war.

Brown and his bunch of ministerial misfits have lost the battle for the hearts and minds of voters and they know it. But the struggling Supreme Leader is standing firm in shifting quicksand, despite the damning indicment delivered with precision by defence aide, Eric Joyce.

Voters are giving Brown his marching orders. He's the political casualty of his own hopeless, bloody unwinnable war.

The Sun's launch of its 'Don't You Know There's a Bloody War On campaign' is driving home the message. Downing Street and the MoD are left fighting a futile rearguard action. The public is fed up with Brown's War. Trust and his leadership have been blown to shreds.

Despite the best efforts of spinners to play down Joyce's resignation, this was a major blow for Brown. Joyce is a Labour loyalist and ex-major who rose through the ranks and was quite a feather in the cap for the government when elected as MP.

No aspect of Brown's handing of the unwinnable war was left untouched as bungling Bob Ainsworth's bag-carrier delivered his bombshell and quit in disgust over the government's Afghan 'strategy'.

Joyce's decision to quit had been on the cards for a while. Only last month he criticised the government's decision to appeal against compensation awards for two wounded soldiers. But the timing was devastating, coming on the eve of Cpl Brown's major fightback speech to try to win back a few votes.

The Party conference is round the corner. Joyce's views chime with the growing unease among rank and file members over the war and with backbench MPs who are hoping to hold onto their seats.

Joyce questioned the government's arguments for the presence of troops and the price being paid for propping up fraudulent elections.

The government could no longer justify the growing Afghan death toll by saying the war would prevent terrorism back home. What's needed now is an exit strategy with a time limit set on deployment. Troop numbers should be cut substantially in the next parliament. The Orange Party goes further - pull out now before it's too late.

Opinion polls cite Brown's handling of the war and woeful lack of leadership as one of the main reasons for his flagged popularity. But don't expect any straight answers today from war-mongering Brown or clueless Ainsworth.

Time's running out and so are the excuses. All there's left is the weak illogical argument of mission impossible: "to protect the British people from the threat of international terrorism".

But if that's the case why not spend the billions of pounds from the war chest here at home on national security and shoring up the borders, rather than shooting at an invisible 'enemy' in a far off land?

It doesn't make a jot of sense. But then this is a war served up with a big dollop of Brown sauce where the real casualties are Afghan civilians and the boys who come home in a box.