AS a battered and bruised Gordon Brown limped to the end of Prime Minister's questions today, a Tory backbencher asked if he ever wondered why he had taken the top job.

Mr Brown said it was to create jobs and better public services - accusing the Tories of failing to question him on the substance of policy issues.

But it was probably the question in many MPs' minds as they watched him soak up the punishment.

It was just as well David Cameron had confessed a couple of weeks ago to failing to live up to his promise when he became Tory leader to abandon Punch and Judy politics.

"Clunking fist"

After Labour's drubbing in last Thursday's local elections in England and Wales, there was not much sign of the "clunking fist" that Tony Blair had promised his successor would deliver.

Instead the PM was more of a punchbag - on the receiving end of repeated blows from Mr Cameron, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, and assorted Opposition MPs.

Mr Brown had arrived at the Commons with a Populus poll for The Times showing that more than half of Labour supporters now believed that he should stand down to make way for a more electable alternative.

The 10p tax debacle and Labour's local elections mauling have been described as Mr Brown's John Major moment. Well, it was certainly a John Major half-hour in the Commons - reminiscent of Norman Lamont's famous jibe that Major was "in office but not in power".

Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher may have been forced out of office prematurely by their own parties not the voters, but they remained formidable Commons performers until the very end.

Remember Mr Blair's standing ovation after his last emotional PMQs less than a year ago, or Lady Thatcher's defiant "I'm enjoying this" as she faced MPs immediately after failing to be re-elected as Tory leader.

Attacks

It was not just David Cameron's attacks that were wounding for Mr Brown. That's the normal cut and thrust of question time.

It was the level of personal abuse, with the Tory leader accusing the Prime Minister of "wearing more make-up than Barbara Cartland" for an American TV appearance. Mr Brown again branded his Tory opponent a "slick salesman".

Opposition backbench MPs were openly mocking Mr Brown, questioning how long he would remain as Prime Minister. Their lack of respect only served further to undermine his authority.

Mr Brown had the good grace to welcome Boris Johnson, the new Tory mayor of London, the now part-time MP for Henley. For weeks Labour MPs and Cabinet ministers have been describing Mr Johnson as a buffoon and a joke. But after his ousting of Ken Livingstone, they did not seem to find him funny any more.

And another of Labour's constitutional reforms returned to discomfort Mr Brown - Scottish devolution. At the weekend, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Wendy Alexander, had challenged the pro-independence Scottish National Party - now in power in Edinburgh - to bring forward a referendum on independence.

When Mr Brown denied that was what she had said, Mr Cameron accused him of "losing touch with reality". An independence referendum is the last thing Mr Brown wants or needs. But the clash was another worrying sign of trouble brewing in his own backyard.