I’m loth to post yet again that hurrah, Gordon Brown’s demise may finally be imminent, because yet again it probably isn’t.
For all that backbenchers, junior ministers and whips alike are coming out of the woodwork, I’ll believe Gordon’s gone when I actually see it. Labours MPs are more like their current leader than they think; they bottle it, just like he does. The bottled on kicking out Blair, who essentially went at a time of his own choosing, and they’ve bottled this too and more than once.
The Labour backbench rebellion reminds me of nothing so much as a rackety old car; everybody’s taking a turn at the handle but the engine resolutely refuses to catch. Kicking it might help.
