Throughout his career, Mr. Brown, the 56-year-old Scot, had exhibited a kind of reluctance to exploit the opportunities to his advantage. First he missed the opportunity to lead the Labour Party in 1992, when his reluctance to openly challenge John Smith enabled the later to win the job.

Political circles believe that Brown had enough clout at that time to knock out John Smith, but his inhibitions kept him from entering the fray. Then again, in 1994, when party boss John Smith died, being dubbed as the obvious choice to take the job of the Labour leadership, he missed this opportunity over a dining table in a trendy London restaurant by making way for Tony Blair, with an understanding that he would take over the Labour leadership halfway through a second term in the government.

That moment came and went, but Brown could not capture the moment to turn the matters his way. Once again, in the spring of 2004, when Blair's popularity was touching the lowest ebb and time was ripe for his exit, Brown fumbled, and restrained himself from giving the required full-throttle push to topple the Blair camp.

Last September, when things had reached the boiling point for Blair, instead of turning the Labour revolt into a decisive political storm against Blair, Brown allowed him to drag on for another 10 months. Nonetheless, regardless of his natural knack for "self-restraint" at the right time, and habitual inclination to wear the badge of "heir-apparent," Gordon Brown has eventually stepped into Downing Street as the new British leader.

Here lies the real test of political acumen and leadership that have remained hidden behind the curtain of chancellor of exchequer for over a decade. He has to do away with his tendency of missing-the-opportunity. This is the opportunity for him to differentiate himself from his predecessor, who was forced to throw in the towel because of his erroneous Iraq policy.

Obviously, the people will continue to compare him with Tony Blair. He is expected to make a difference because, despite being the major architect and stakeholder of the Blair policies for ten years, he is an altogether different person, with his own, distinct political vision and personalitythat need to be reflected in his policies as the premier.

The most immediate task for him should be the overhauling of the flawed Iraq policy that devoured the political career of Tony Blair. The exit of Blair does not mean that all is well now on the Iraq front. Instead, it has further heightened the flaws that envelope the Iraq policy.

This is where Brown needs to work, and take full advantage of this opportunity to compensate for the lost moments, and to have a long stint as the British premier. He has to make drastic decisions with regard to the British involvement in Iraqand to quickly differentiate himself from Blair.

There is only one option for him to establish a difference on the Iraq policy, and that is the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. This is the only step that, in actual sense, will justify Blair's premature removal from the scene.

Three factors coerced Blair to quit; invasion of Iraq, establishment of Western occupation, and refusal to make a correction in the Iraq policy. Being Bush's poodle, Blair, for fear of slighting the White House, kept on refusing to listen to demands for disengagement of British troops from the Iraq operation.

Blair's personal relationship with George W. Bush was perhaps a key factor that kept him from taking any bold decision on Iraq, despite intense pressure from the British public. Blair opted to lose the job rather than annoy his good friend Bush by calling back the British troops from Iraq.

Interestingly, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, staunch Nato members, have withdrawn their troops without affecting their ties with Washington. So, in the same vein, the withdrawal of British troops should not hamper the ties between the White House and Downing Street.

Unlike Blair, Brown does not have personal relations at stake while re-drawing his Iraq policy. He has a golden opportunity to establish his leadership by taking the bold decision of withdrawing from Iraq. And if he misses the opportunity this time, he may find himself in the political wilderness much earlier than expected.

Dr. Imran Khalid is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.