The Prime Minister needs "to regain the moral high ground" and demonstrate his "earnest and serious commitment to fairness, honesty and justice", argues a prominent British Jesuit.

Writing in their online journal, Thinking Faith, Father Peter Scally SJ asks candidly what happened to the man dubbed the 'Son of the Manse' at the time he took over as Prime Minister - Gordon Brown's father was a Church of Scotland minister.

Father Scally points to three incidents that he feels have contributed to his present unpopularity: the abolition of the 10p income tax band, his indecision over whether to call a General Election, and his apparent exploitation of British troops in Iraq during the week of the Conservative Party Conference.

"They were all occasions on which he appeared to abandon his high principles in an attempt to be clever and outwit the Conservatives. And every time it blew up in his face," writes Father Scally.

The Jesuit priest recalled CAFOD's Pope Paul VI Memorial Lecture given by Brown in 2004 in which he spoke of relieving the debts of Third World countries. "'It's not enough to picture the New Jerusalem, we must build it," Brown said at the time.

"He did not smile; he was deadly serious. His feeling and his passion were evident, and at the end, the whole hall rose to its feet in a prolonged standing ovation ... It is this faith-filled, seriously passionate Gordon Brown, steeled with moral purpose and guided by the values of the Gospel, that this country needs and, I would argue, wants," Father Scally suggests.

The priest writes that Brown's Christian values should be important in issues such as tackling poverty, reducing inequality, improving public services, increasing foreign aid and taking a lead in international negotiations on both fair trade and climate change.

"In addition," continues Fr Scally, "he can take steps to ensure that the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers is fairer.

"The vast majority of people who have supported the Labour Party have done so because they believed it would bring about a fairer society.

"Whether or not they were right in that belief is another question, but that desire for justice - in particular, reducing the gap between the rich and the poor - has always been the main motivation for Labour supporters."