Never a frown with Gordon Brown

At least that's how his Labour style advisers would like it. Apparently he's gone through 'smile training' in a bid to make himself appear more palatable to the public as he propels himself towards becoming PM.

Much like firm and dry handshakes, I'll never understand this obsession with smiling. Do we really want our political leaders to be the types who grind out a forced smile every time they take to a podium? Does their appearance or apparent lack of warmth and friendliness have any bearing whatsoever on their ability to lead the country? It's nonsense. I'd be more inclined to view the kind of plastic smile that Tony Blair perfected over the last ten years as an offputting trait. It screams of insincerity and lack of trustworthiness to me. Give me a good statesmanlike scowl any day of the week.