A SOLDIER who cheated death in a Taliban gun attack in Afghanistan has been labelled a hero by Gordon Brown.

The Prime Minister shook hands with Private Leon Wilson over breakfast when he visited Lashkar Gar in southern Afghanistan yesterday Pte Wilson, from Bolton, dubbed Britain's luckiest soldier after being shot in the head and surviving unscathed, met Mr Brown when he paid a surprise visit to the troubled country to meet British troops and to hold talks with Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

He said: “He asked if I was feeling OK now. He said I was a hero at home but I don't think I am.”

Pte Wilson’s protective helmet was hit by a Taliban bullet during a gun battle on April 10. The bullet missed his head by just 2mm, and Pte Wilson, known as “Willy”, was left in shock, but without a scratch.

The Bolton soldier, a father-of-three, said he had a new helmet now, but was hoping to get the old one back so he could keep wearing it.

He said he was now looking forward to returning home, in just under a month.

After eating with Pt Wilson and his comrades, Mr Brown praised troops at the Lashkar Gar base in Helmand for their "professionalism and bravery".

He said: "There is a chain of terrorism that goes from here to the streets of Britain. That's why it's absolutely important that while we have made progress on Afghan elections, democratic government, six million children in education, hospitals as well as roads and infrastructure for the people of Afghanistan, that we defeat international terrorism and hold it back from here in Lashkar Gar, here in Helmand province, but also on the other side of the border in Pakistan.

"Our approach to these countries is different, but must be complementary."

The UK wants provinces to be handed over to Afghan government control one by one — in much the same way as has happened in Iraq.

The strategy also calls for the Afghan army to be expanded from 75,000 to 135,000 by the end of 2011, alongside recruiting thousands more police.