The Poliblogs 14 February 2008

Why isn't Michael Fallon in the Shadow Cabinet?

Has anyone - apart from ConservativeHome - noticed that the Member for Sevenoaks is pound for pound one of the most effective operators on the Tory benches? He offers a consistently robust Thatcherite critique of Labour's economic failings. As vice-chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, where he plays a nifty bad cop to John McFall's good cop, he has repeatedly skewered Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, most recently on Northern Rock. Mr Fallon is a canny media operator who manages to generate more coverage than half the Shadow Cabinet.

Ben Brogan

Northern Rock: Spin cycle begins

Late last night, (ignoring traditional rules about making announcements prior to the stock exchange opening, but who in the Treasury cares about that) the Government announced that unless Virgin and the Northern Rock management improved their bids, then Northern Rock will be nationalised. Given that the Rock is already on the public accounts, this is a mis-statement at best. The Rock is already nationalised, all the government are saying is that they will exclude private sector intervention from the future unless the terms are improved.

Capitalist@Work

The case for a written constitution

Does Britain need a written constitution? Traditionally, this isn’t an issue to which the left has paid much attention. Either it has been written off as being of little importance, or else the very concept has been seen as favouring conservative forces in a society. As a result, the ruling class has essentially been able to make up the rules of the political game as it goes along. But with the latest hint from justice secretary Jack Straw that such a development is likely over the next decade or two, it is clearly time to sharpen up our ideas on this one.

Dave’s Part

The government tears up the Bill of Rights

It is typical of this government that Parliament should not be meeting on this day of all days. On 13th February 1689 “the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster” presented a declaration to the new sovereigns, King William and Queen Mary. This declaration, known as the Bill of Rights, established Parliamentary supremacy over the Crown in important areas, and guaranteed Parliament’s freedoms .It did so that the people could practise the religion of their choice, avoid arbitrary manipulation of their laws and require redress of ills before they had to pay taxes.

John Redwood

What's driving Ken?

Ken Livingstone's congestion charge policy was established to reduce congestion; now it seems it's about what car you own

Daniel Moylan

This is Gordon Brown's mistake

The chancellor is taking the heat for a U-turn on tax-avoidance by non-doms: but it is the prime minister who should have resisted City bullying

Will Hutton

Spin is alive and kicking at the Treasury

The Treasury spin machine went into overdrive yesterday afternoon to try and water down the significance of Alistair Darling’s u-turn on the taxation of non-doms. Throughout the afternoon, journalists were subject to a range of explanations from supposedly impartial civil servants. First the rules to gain access to offshore trusts and the other assets of non-doms were drawn up by an overeager official who had gone too far. Then, in another call, we were told to believe that there was, in fact, no change to what was originally proposed and yesterday’s announcement was “just a clarification” of what had been said all along.

Three Line Whip

I wish I could fly

This intriguing, if badly-scanned, graph appears in today's Guardian. It's a stark illustration of the pollution caused by the global shipping industry. The darker the area, the more particulate pollution its suffers from - and some of the darker patches overlay major shipping lanes very precisely.

Know Your Place

Archbishop Rowan Firestorm was Started by the BBC before Interview was even Broadcast

Archbishop Rowan Firestorm was Started by the BBC before Interview was even Broadcast

[Update: It appears that this article had a glitch or two in publication, and so there is some undisciplind pinging going on. My apologies.] There’s been a huge media firestorm after the Archbishop of Canterbury’s lecture to lawyers in London, as we all know - and it’s all been blamed on “Rowan’s naivity” or “Rowan’s bad press team” or “what did he expect, mentioning Sharia” or [insert random Rowan-bashing reason here]. After a bit of digging, it turns out that the Beeb was reporting inaccurate statements about “ABC says Sharia is inevitable” even before the interview was broadcast. Rowan (and a well-tempered debate) never had a chance - whether you agree with his line or not.

The Wardman Wire

Matt Wardman accuses the BBC of stirring

Matt Wardman accuses the BBC, in fairly strident terms, of encouraging an unnecessary storm over the Archbishop of Canterbury's words. His evidence for this is pretty weak. Essentially, he has two points. First, that by publishing the story on their website before the interview they pre-empted his interview and thereby prevented people getting the balanced and nuanced account of his opinions that the interview provided. Second, that the website article was distorting.

Sinclair’s Musings

The Late Lunch Briefing

Darling In Circles

You put your left leg in. Your left leg out. In. Out. In. Out. You shake it all about.

What is going on at the Treasury? Are we witnesses the most incompetent Chancellor this country has ever seen? So Non Doms won’t be taxed to the back teeth on foreign income or gains not sent to the UK. In fact, apparently it never was going to tax these people. Oh no, the only reason we ever thought that the Treasury would is because they said so... but that was only because of “careless drafting” of an HM Revenue & Customs consultation paper. Careless drafting? You are supposed to running the most important department of in the country – we cannot be doing with careless drafting... or even worse: dithering!

It is no surprise that Darling has changed his mind on this one. It is reported that the change of heart came following a call from George Osborne for Labour to adopt the Tory plan. The Tories driving Labour’s economic policy? Surely not.

The Wooden Chancellor

Of course this isn’t the first U-turn of the “Wooden Chancellor”, Alastair Darling. We have had Northern Rock and the “will it or won’t it” be nationalised drama (for clarity, right now it won’t be nationalised, though it is unlikely that they will accept the Virgin deal, so it probably will be nationalised, but actually no-one has a clue). There has been inheritance tax u-turns. We’ve had the about turn on Capital Gains tax. This list goes on. When you add all this in to the boiling pot that is economic recession and falling house prices, you have to question how long this born loser has left at No.11.

The press, the city, parliament, they are all full of gossip about how Darling might be moved in a Spring/Summer reshuffle. It is something I suspected at my New Year predictions. Even the most ardent of New Labour supporters who has any interest in the well being of the British economy as an International super-power must be worried about this buffoon running our economy. But will he go?

Party Politics before Economics

The problem with Darling going is that it will inflict serious damage on the government. It will be seen as a major scalp by George Osborne and the Tories. It will be reported as a failure of Gordon Brown’s premiership. It will be seen as a clear sign that the economy is in trouble and will only make the situation less stable, purely on lack of confidence driven by a perception. I fear that Brown will save this numskull purely for political reasons – i.e. to save his government and his own bacon.

A plea to you all

The truth is, in the short term there will be damage. But in the medium to long term it surely can only be good for the government and the country. Things are only going to get worse economically and with such a halfwit in charge of our money it will only be magnified. We need a tough, iron chancellor at No.11 and we need it before things spiral out of control. The only way this can happen, however, is if we all applaud Brown doing getting rid of darling rather than make political capital out of it.

So I make plea right now: all anti-Browns, all Tories and Lib Dems, all anti-Darlings and people with half a brain: applaud when Brown sacks this man, encourage him to do so in fact. Make him feel like it is the greatest decision made since Henry V made a few expert judgments and gave the French a jolly good hiding at Agincourt.

Of course, the Tories are such an excitable lot that they will make Brown look like a complete bonehead if he does sack him – and you can hardly blame the Tories for all this mess anyway. So it looks like Darling is here to stay and free to really mess things up... but we can all still hope.

The Poliblogs 13 February 2008

Darling getting it wrong again

Under Blair, Labour was never so foolish as to come into direct conflict with the City. The government tiptoed around it in an effort to nurture the powerhouse of the British economy. But led by Brown, with Darling as Chancellor, they are now clumsily treading on the collective toes of many in the business community.

Adam Smith

Time to go on the offensive on Europe?

It’s pretty much a given in the Liberal Democrats that the party doesn’t talk about Europe in its leaflets. It’s with good cause too. Firstly, it isn’t actually one of the top concerns of voters when they are asked in opinion polls what their biggest issues are. Just like electoral reform, it comes well down the list after all the big ones like health, education, crime, transport and so on. But also, there is an understandable reluctance for Lib Dems to talk about an issue on which it is perceived that the party is out of touch with the voters.

Anders Hanson

Spreading democracy...

Foreign Secretary David Miliband today makes the argument for military intervention to 'spread democracy'. So, according to The Guardian (although it is less than clear in the text) Britain and its partners have a 'moral imperitive' to use force to 'spread democracy'. Gone is the requirement for some sort of facade, no more humanitarian intervention to defeat tyrants terrorising their own people, not even a 'sexed-up' excuse to wipe out fantasy weapons of mass destruction... no, the moral argument for spreading democracy will be sufficient for us to send our forces off to die, and to kill.

Bob Piper

They really don't want you to have a referendum

Labour is clearly rattled by the row over it reneging on its promise of a referendum on the EU Constitution. Not content with threatening to withdraw the whip from Labour MPs who support honouring this manifesto commitment, Labour is engaged in a desperate attempt to discredit the cross-party ‘I want a referendum campaign’.

Coffee House

Should we subsidise the arts?

Should there really be tax breaks for donations to the arts, as Paul Myners and Nicholas Serota demand here? The Pigovian case for such tax breaks is well-known; without them, there’d be an under-supply of such public goods. However, the egalitarian case for such breaks is very shaky, as this recent paper discusses. It argues that donations to the arts can actually increase inequalities of well-being in two ways - even leaving aside the possibility that such donations are really intended to boost the ego of the donor.

Liberal Conspiracy

Frank Field: Right theory, Wrong practice

Labour MP Frank Field has had to put up with a lot over the years - not least being ousted from Blair's first government for being too radical and since then being treated by his own side as if he's about to defect to the Conservatives. Well, today Frank launched rather interested reform plans that would charge people who earn over £150,000 a year an extra 10% tax which could be offset totally through donations to charity. You can read the BBC report here.

Little’s Log

Foul emission in London

Up in London the Livingstone beast is at it again. He is going to charge the owners of Chelsea Tractors £25 a day for taking their gas guzzlers into “town”. It will not affect me. I have only driven in London twice in the last six months and the Crippen Toyota Previa (four children, Ken, what else can we do?) has relatively modest emissions. As Iain Dale vehemently points out, the charge will not apply in some of the most congested parts of London, such as Crouch End and Willesdon. The people most affected will be voting for Boris anyway.

NHS Blog Doctor

Prime Minister Balls?

In a fascinating post, Robert shows how the Tories are doing Alistair Darling harm by sympathising with him. The Chancellor may be replaced by Ed Balls so they present Darling as a decent man treated awfully by bossy Brown. They want to spread discord and paranoia because it suits their own ends. But at the root of the Balls for Chancellor movement, is a prospect even more worrying for the nation: it is that Ed Balls appears convinced he is the natural next Labour leader. Can I be alone in finding this idea preposterous?

Three Line Whip

Voodoo polling corner

A sudden outbreak of voodoo polling this morning, or more to the point a sudden outbreak of serious newspapers reporting a voodoo poll as being meaningful. What’s a voodoo poll? It’s what Bob Worcester calls the little “press the red button to vote” polls on Sky News, or the little readers’ votes things on the BBC website. They are entertaining enough, but they mean nothing whatsoever, they don’t measure the opinion of a representative group of people, they only measure the opinions of people who wander past that particular website (or are directed to said website by people trying to influence the poll) and care enough about the issue to vote…often several times if they know how to delete cookies from their computer.

Polling Report

Politics Decoded...

... is up at The Wire

The Poliblogs 12 February 2008

Will Gordon speak up for his Chancellor?

This is a dangerous week for Alistair Darling. It's half term at Westminster, not much is going on, and when things are quiet there's mischief about. Put together the dire headlines for the Chancellor yesterday and today (Not just "Knives out as Darling loses trust of City" - Sunday Times; "Why Darling is a menace to Britain" - William Rees-Mogg; "Darling's confidence seems misplaced" - Anatole Kaletsky; but more importantly the FT/Telegraph pincer movement on non-doms) and you get a picture of trouble.

Ben Brogan

Booze: Is Bottler Brown Dithering?

On the day three scumbag yobs were jailed for kicking Garry Newlove to death in what the judge called a night of "drunken aggression", you might have expected the Government to signal a crackdown on cheap booze. But you'd be wrong. My narks in the Treasury tell me the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is unlikely to hammer cheap beers and lagers sold in supermarkets with big tax increases in his Budget on March 12.

Boulton & Co.

Sharing The Proceeds Of Growth

Take a look at the chart. It shows how much of our GDP has been spent by government under each of our last six Prime Ministers (counting the 1974-79 administration as one). 44 years ago when Harold Wilson first took the controls, government spent 38%. This year, it expects to spend 42% (£589bn), but the path from 1964 has been extraordinarily bumpy, and back in the mid-70s they spent 50% (we're using HM Treasury's figures on Total Managed Expenditure- TME). Where will the line go next?

Burning Our Money

And the brass neck of the year award goes to...

If there is an award for a brass neck of 2008, George Osborne has just done enough to win in. First, he proposes a tax on the non-doms (which I critiqued at the time). Then, Darling nicks it in his infamous magpie budget. Then, it becomes clear this daft proposal will simply drive away the highly-mobile millionaires resulting in a net loss to the Exchequer. Today Osborne has written an “open letter” to Darling asking him to repeal this proposal for all the harm it will do. A proposal which he was complaining was nicked from him. Of course winning parties tend to have brass necks – and Osborne’s cheek is far preferable to the pusillanimous approach of previous Shadow Chancellors. But what a cheek it is.

Coffee House

Dr Martin Parsons: Gordon Brown’s hypocrisy in condemning the Archbishop's sharia comments

On Thursday Gordon Brown’s spokesman denounced Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams’ claim that the introduction of sharia to the UK was inevitable. However, Gordon Brown himself has been quietly seeking to appease certain aspects of the agenda of 'peaceful' Islamist groups in the UK - including what amounts to a partial implementation of sharia.

Conservative Home

Should Labour adopt all-black shortlists?

If not positive discrimination, then what? An internal Labour Party report on increasing black representation in parliament – written by Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote – is recommending that current law be changed to allow all black shortlists for parliamentary selections. This is a proposal I am instinctively uneasy with, largely because I can remember the way positive discrimination worked in local government and the voluntary sector in the 1980s, before being subsequently outlawed. In particular, I recall watching one young Asian woman – a pleasant enough human being, as it goes, who co-habbed with a pal of mine for a while – enjoy a string of rapid promotions to jobs that were on any fair judgement beyond her capabilities, until she predictably came rather spectacularly unstuck.

Dave’s Part

Clegg's first 50 days

The new leader of the Liberal Democrats has made a steady start but he should now exploit Cameron's weaknesses

James Graham

Censoring the interweb

I was stuck at the back of an inordinately long queue in the central Post Office yesterday so naturally I picked up the in-house magazine, put there to divert customers' attention from the fact that their lunch break is being frittered away, whilst half of the counter positions remain unstaffed. Inside was a feature asking people's views as to whether the internet should be censored. Presumably, the editor felt that it would make a good talking point. Unfortunately, none of the proffered arguments convinced me.

Peter Black

Why Lynton Crosby will encourage me to bet on Boris?

Is Ken being ousted the best bet around at the moment? Cards on the table straight-away: quite simply I believe that the 1.84/1 that’s available on Boris Johnson to win the London Mayoralty is by far the best value political bet that’s currently available. Last October I pocketed £3,400 on Gordon’s general election U-turn and in the coming eleven weeks I’ll be investing at least half of that on Boris - when the prices are right. As Sean Fear observed in his excellent analysis on Friday Ken won last time thanks to the fact that many non-Labour voters in the GLA election opted to split their ticket and vote for Ken in the Mayoral race.

Political Betting

Do the Tories need a change of tactics?

Mick Fealty at Brassneck has a very good take on the Tories' discussion on whether or not they should be bolder in taking on Brown. "Cameron and Osbourne are in tight, working hard and lacing the Brown Government with short body blows, none of which looks remotely like taking down the old Scots slugger. It may be that they need to stand off and offer a fresh perspective on that most ancient and pivotal of political arguments, tax."

Three Line Whip

Mayor unveils programme to transform cycling and walking in London

Ken Livingstone today announced the most ambitious programme to transform walking and cycling in London’s history. The package of measures will create a new network of quick, simple, and safe routes for cyclists and pedestrians that will change the profile and priority of walking and cycling on London's streets.

Theo’s Blog

The Late Lunch Briefing

A month to go before Alastair Darling presents his first budget to the Commons. This year, as all years, we can expect the any of the pleasures that we get in life a good hammering – e.g. alcohol. Say what you like about it, yes it may well be worse than a cocktail of heroin and crack cocaine that is taken while sharing an audience with the devil himself, but the fact is most of can handle it and don’t need the kind assistance of our government to make it so expensive that only an absolute addict would risk financial ruin from buying it.

Where is the logic in all this? Firstly the government says that we are nation that is dying because of extreme alcohol abuse so we must be encouraged to stop drinking it. Anything more than 21 units a week is likely to cause a slow and miserable death. Absolute nonsense! Please can someone show me the evidence that say we should only be drinking this much alcohol a week? It is a completely arbitrary figure plucked out the air. Yes drinking a lot is not good for you. But to actually get liver damage you have to drink a serious amount of booze – the sort of levels that most of the population do not embark on. This 21 units a week figure is a smokescreen and con. So why the majority should be told that we should pay more is beyond me.

Secondly, we are told that that binge drinking is a problem. Yes it is. But how many people in our town centres are getting in brawls have been sat at home on the sofa with a nice bottle of Rioja before deciding that actually they are bit bored of watching the Channel 4 news and get the bus in to town for good punch up with the nearest passerby? Not many I suspect. No, I suspect that most of the brainless fools have been down the pub drinking a load of alcopops and spirits. So why are the government focussing on the booze from the supermarkets when it the booze in the pubs that (in the town centres) that are attracting all the trouble is beyond me also.

Then we are told it is underage drinking that is the real scourge on our society? Well isn’t there a law against this already? Why should all those people legitimately buying alcohol have to pay more because a load of kids aren’t be held to account by the law? Crack down on the shop keepers or landlords that do it, crack down on these kids’ parents – hell, arrest the blighters themselves and dish out a bit of justice. Don’t make me pay for it though.

Why are we be told that these are all the reasons for raising the tax on alcohol even though when you actually think about it, there is no logic in the premises whatsoever? Because it sounds like it makes sense and is a nice little earner for the Chancellor. And, after all, it fits in with the worst mantra that New Labour ever had – “it is better to be seen to be doing something than nothing at all – even if that something does nothing”.

The Poliblogs' Blog of the Week

This week's Poliblogs' Blog of the Week is The Croydonian.

This past week alone, The Croydonian has made me laugh out loud like only The Daily Mash can normally do. Take a look at the brilliantly observed "Survey of the Week" - which has to be the most pointless piece of government research in a very long time with the least surprising results ever. Or how about "Great Typos of Our Time"... I can see the Commission now just belting out the ways of the EU set to Mozart.

Croydonian is brilliantly observant, laugh out load sarcastic and punchy to the point - the sort of blog you go back to a few times a day in those spare few minutes between "real work". That is to say, he's in my favourites, not just my bloglines.

The Poliblogs 11 February 2008

Dr. Rowan Williams.

How on earth is one to react to the latest musings of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I was a bit lucky that I was heading out of the country today when BBC Wales rang me. I was boarding the plane when they invited me on to talk about Dr. Rowan Williams' lecture to the Royal Courts of Justice. It would have been walking on very thin ice indeed. It would have been easy if I didn't have such great respect for the man - as a theologian and an academic. But he is not much of a politician. I cannot think of anything more designed to wind up the British people than to suggest that sharia law should apply in some circumstances in our country.

A View from Rural Wales

The fluoride state

As the Government finds more and more ways to curtail our liberties, the Health Secretary chips in with his own brand of interference in the way that we live our lives. The problem, as Ben Goldacre points out in his Guardian Bad Science column, is that there is no evidence that the addition of fluoride to our water supply will have the beneficial effects claimed for it:

Peter Black AM

Watch your back, Darling

The whispering campaign against Alistair Darling just went public. The Sunday Times carries an article today that is packed with devastating quotes from government insiders, albeit anonymous ones. We are told by an MP close to Number 10 that Brown’s team are openly considering moving Darling out of Number 11 in a reshuffle while a Treasury Civil Servant bemoans that Ed Balls is not in charge and claims that there wouldn’t be any of these problems if he was. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out who might be hoping from this briefing against Darling.

Coffee House

Charles Clarke - Gordon Brown is a Ditherer

Charles Clarke has made my prediction of Gordon Brown being given the boot by May, a whole lot more credible today. Speaking to Petronella Wyatt of the Daily Mail, Clarke has launched into what can only be described as a scathing attack on the Prime Minister. Not only that, he even has the bottle (I wonder if he has a spare one for Brown) to praise David Cameron for his decisiveness over the expenses fiasco. This is just a small taste of the Clarke's criticism of Brown:

Daily Referendum

Charles Clarke denies sour grapes

.....after he broke into Downing Street, sneaked into Gordon Brown's bedroom and chopped a sleeve off each of the Prime Minister's suits. There is some good news, however, and it concerns Clarke's health: he's out of the coma. Bear in mind he said the following a day or two ago and not a year or two ago:

The Daily Pundit

Public Finances

Philipa has asked me what I think of the James Purnell "second home" funding "scandal". Well, first of all I would like to express my total lack of surprise at this "revelation". Every MP who has a constituency outside London does this. They get £22,000 a year each to help them fund a pied-a-terre for those evenings when they have to be in London. Rather disgracefully, many MPs with constituencies very close to London also take advantage of this subsidy. Guido has been chipping away at this particular trough for a good while, and he knows more about it than I do.

Edland

Will others follow the Wallace example?

On Sunday I drew attention to Tory MP Ben Wallace and his unilateral decision to put all his expenses online, for all to see. What to you and me seems an obvious and praiseworthy step for a parliamentarian was actually a risky one for Mr Wallace. David Cameron may be striking the right poses on transparency, but behind him the Tory ranks are seething with anger at the mess they find themselves in.

Ben Brogan

FT interview with Clegg: LibDems could back Conservatives

Due to my self-denying ordinance, I missed this one on the tickertape machine when it came through:

Liberal Burblings

Campaign against 42 days extension

The government will try and push its Counter Terrorism Bill through parliament in the next few weeks. This bill includes the provision to hold someone in detention, without charging them, for 42 days - a two week increase on the current limit of 28 days. Unsurprisingly, New Labour has been trying to paint this extension of police powers in benign terms. But we should not be fooled. Why? Because:

Liberal Conspiracy

How Do Y0u Solve A Problem Like Sharia

Cassilis is always a good read although he is a bit of “Seeing-all-sides-and-must therefore be right “ merchant. I always like CS Lewis on this when he pointed out there are endless answers to a question until you know the right one and then there is one. Anyway, on the Bishop bashing issue he has pointed out that in a previous Church state row ( forcing Adoption agencies to consider gays ) those who are incandescent about Sharia law encroaching on the secular hegemony felt that religious considerations should take precedence over the states universal edict. I like the comparison because I think it takes us to the heart if what is going on here.

Newmania

Labour's parallel universes - Part 2 - London

Saturday 9 February was the second of two all-member consultations about the Labour manifesto for the forthcoming Mayoral and Greater London Assembly elections on 1 May 2008. A beautiful morning tempted me onto my bike to cycle down to the Lilian Bayliss Technology School at Vauxhall, in the London Borough of Lambeth.

Peter Kenyon

Should Brown be worrying about the Clarke onslaughts?

Could the Prime Minister really “obliterate Labour?” While all the focus that has been on the US elections we have not really looked at the growing attacks on Gordon Brown from his long-standing foe within the Labour movement, Charles Clarke. In an interview with Petronella Wyatt in the Daily Mail this weekend the former Home Secretary and still-loyal Blairite issues one broadside after another against his party leader.

Political Betting

This country is politically dead and I am frightened

Dead countries almost always give birth to dictatorships. Remember that old one about for evil to prosper, all that's needed is for good men to do nothing? When it comes to voting, most good men (OK, and women... yada yada) under 35 are doing nothing. They know of no reason to vote. They see politics and politicians as nothing to do with them.

Prodicus

Wendy: from the frying pan into the fire

Just as Wendy and her team think she has got off with it **Fuc&ing Brilliant**, now the real issues of Wendy's leadership will come to the fore. But not before she defends herself in a new donorgate scandal that is brewing over the funding of a constituency organisation by a 'front organisation', the Scottish Industry Forum. Now some of the Tory-supporting donors to SIF are making formal complaints to the Electoral Commission that they were deceived into making donations to her Paisley North election campaign - and not the economic renewal of Renfrewshire!

Tartan Hero

The danger with Darling

Patrick Hennessy says Charles Clarke has gone too far this time. There is surely no way back for him under the Brown regime after his interview with the Daily Mail yesterday. He described the PM as a "ditherer", echoing David Cameron's line of attack. The problem for Clarke is that he has had so many goes at Brown that they long ago lost impact. He is the Blairite lounge bar bore: "And another thing..." Smarter Blairites are keeping their powder dry. John Reid is a "volcano waiting to explode", according to one observer who spent some time with him recently. However, Reid will know he has one shot at doing his old enemy GB any serious damage and will pick his moment.

Three Line Whip