Today's papers compare the contrasting fortunes of the prime minister and his chancellor.

With Baghdad's fall dominating the headlines and the prime minister preparing to act as the Queen's representative at the Sovereign's parade at Sandringham tomorrow, Gordon Brown's Budget was for once completely overshadowed by world events.

Commentators suggest that the success of the Allies in Iraq represents a major triumph for the prime minister - justifying his decision to press ahead with military action in the face of strong opposition.

In today's Times, Peter Riddell says: "You could see it in the body language in the Commons. Mr Blair made way for Mr Brown, not quite deferring, but watching him slightly nervously.

"Mr Brown, the commanding intellect of the government, paid a rare direct compliment to Mr Blair, 'a debt of gratitude to the strong leadership in a difficult time of our prime minister'."

Writing in the Telegraph, Rachel Sylvester concludes that "there has been a curious reversal of fortune" in the role of the two men.

"The chancellor, a natural pessimist, has always played a gloomy Eeyore to the prime minister's irrepressible Tigger; now it is the chancellor who has become the optimist, bouncing as high as his growth forecasts while Mr Blair treads carefully over the future of Iraq," she says.

Andrew Grice of the Independent says that the chancellor "had no desire to see the biggest day of his working year eclipsed by the Iraq war".

He reveals: "One Brown aide, slipped a note about the dramatic events on the streets of Baghdad, cried: 'Oh, damn!'."