Thursday, January 07, 2010

Fizz and Ice: the Labour leadership crisis

As predicted, the latest Labour leadership crisis didn't even melt any ice, never mind put the skids under Brown. A short fizz and then nothing. So the latest bout of infighting has simply damaged Labour. Quite what Hoon and Hewitt were thinking when they went off half cock is difficult to work out. Perhaps the cold has affected their ability to think sensibly (as far as Labour are concerned.)

What I find more interesting however is the slowness of the chief cabinet members to come forth with gushing praise for Brown. This probably said more about internal Labour dynamics than the fizz of the Hoon-Hewitt self-indulgence. It shows that whilst cabinet members accept Brown is there to stay til the election, there is absolutely no enthusiasm for him at all. They are stuck with him because they have lacked the will to dump him previously and because Brown has been very good at using his office to maintain his own position.

Labour are in an ice age of their own making. The slow-moving glacial Gordon is here to stay a little longer. The chances are that political warming will come with the election. Brown may melt away then but that is not certain. After all, events of the last three years show he has a remarkable ability to survive, even if the cost of that is serious damage to his own party.
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