To view Gordon Borwn's American Idol apperance

Nobody in Westminster can believe it. On a TV show where slick performers showcase their raw talent to win millions of votes, Gordon Brown didn’t look out of place.

The Prime Minister made an unlikely debut on reality TV, ostensibly to appeal for money to help to tackle the spread of malaria, beaming intently as he delivered his prerecorded message across the Atlantic from Downing Street.

His flickering smile was eerily, dazzlingly white, as American as apple pie, although obscured at intervals by his instinctive cud-chewing jaw movements. His suit was reassuringly dark, his shirt crisp, his tie mauve, his hair carefully groomed.

He even ended his message with: “Thank you and God bless you all.”

What was going on? Had he taken to heart a cry of frustration last week from one his backbenchers, Chris Mole, who told him at a meeting for Labour MPs: “People don’t know who you are”?

The plea from Mr Mole was for the Prime Minister to spend more time on sofas in breakfast television studios, hoping a more chatty approach might soften his image among bleary-eyed viewers as they munched their Rice Krispies.

Perhaps Mr Brown thought that this was too timid. Did this odd intervention suggest instead a global charm offensive, the launch upon the world of a newly groomed Gordon, reaching out with one arm to America, with another to sub-Saharan Africa, and attempting to give British voters a hug in between?

George Clooney, after all, dropped into Downing Street this week to chat to the Prime Minister about the situation in Darfur, leaving a discreet trail of Hollywood stardust behind him.

And was all this the handiwork of Stephen Carter, the Prime Minister’s recently appointed chief of strategy, whom critics say does his politics through the pages of PR Week rather than The Guardian?

More pertinently, what was behind that sparklingly white smile? A new toothpaste? Teeth-whitening treatment, even? Whatever next?

Certainly, the Gordon Brown whose video appeal was broadcast on US television on Wednesday night, beamed on to a giant dome-shaped screen like a character from Doctor Who, was a million miles from the unvarnished version who brooded over British politics for so long.

Gordon of old didn’t do glitz: crumpled suits, bitten nails, tousled steely hair, yes. But never glitz, especially not American-style celebrity glitz; he left that to Tony Blair.

According to Downing Street insiders, however, the truth is more prosaic. Mr Brown’s video clip for American Idol, which was filmed by Downing Street in-house three weeks ago, was the latest manifestation of a long-established plan to raise awareness of the United Nations millennium development goals.

With President Bush initially dragging his feet and reluctant to get involved, Mr Brown began a strategy some years ago of using American celebrities and popular US television shows to try to build support among the American public for more urgent action to meet the UN’s targets to cut poverty, hunger and disease.

Mr Brown’s appearances as Chancellor with the Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie and the Colombian pop star Shakira, his support for the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia three years ago and his work with campaigners such as Bob Geldof, Richard Curtis and Simon Callow were other examples, Downing Street sources said.

This was no relaunch, then; Mr Brown, who flies to the US next Tuesday, will not spend his time touring talent contests or popping up on the celebrity circuit, although he may find time to appear on morning talk shows as he makes his way through New York, Washington and Boston.

But the gradual grooming of Gordon and his transformation from stubbornly unspun conviction politician to celebrity statesman may be approaching its zenith. Only the smile needs further practice.

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