Unfortunately, I'm unable to share Louise Bagshawe's optimism that "Brown is gone". From a Labour perspective 'no change, no chance' is a strong argument; but it is counteracted by the growing realisation that, as the next election is probably lost anyway, there's no point in turkeys voting for an early Christmas.
The idea of foisting a second unelected Prime Minister on the nation is surely unthinkable without the promise of an early-ish general election; which would mean going to the country in 2009 rather 2010, thereby foregoing a whole year of Parliamentary and Ministerial salaries for at least one hundred Labour MPs. The unions bosses will also seek to keep an increasingly dependent Labour Party in power for as long as possible, not to mention the assorted beneficiaries of the Blair-Brown patronage state.
So, I'm afraid the low-minded politics of the matter indicate that Brown will remain in office until the bitter end. Of course, it could just be that Labourites will lose their minds altogether, self-destructing ahead of schedule. Moreover, there's always the truly insane prospect that they'll try and put Harriet Harman in Number 10 without signalling an early election... constitutional crisis, anyone?
