A beautifully warm day in London, where the high temperatures on the streets are exceeded only by those generated in the civil war that is now raging within the Parliamentary Labour party.
The weekend extracts from the memoirs of Cherie Blair and John Prescott could, just about, and by those of a charitable disposition, have been explained away as mere publishers’ puffery. However, the attack by Lord Levy, in which he suggested that Gordon Brown should consider his position as Prime Minister, was deeply damaging in its force and directness.
Today, Frank Field, leader of the Labour backbench awkward squad which is making life so difficult for Mr Brown, unleashed an even more direct attack on the Prime Minister and his character. Speaking on the BBC World Service, Mr Field said that he would be very surprised if Mr Brown still led Labour at the time of the next general election (which Mr Field is pretty certain won’t be held until the last possible moment, two years and two weeks from now).
In the interview, Mr Field refers to Mr Brown’s “rages” and describes the Prime Minister’s “unhappiness inside his own body”:
"That's clearly part of the tragedy - on a personal level as well for a party, government and country level - that somebody whose real aim in life is to be Prime Minister, now has the task and seems so lacking in enjoyment in trying to carry it out.”
Frank Field’s comments will overshadow Mr Brown’s attempts this week at yet another relaunch, with a big announcement on long-term care and a preview of the programme proposed for the Queen’s Speech.
To make matters even worse, the BBC News website has taken to illustrating its increasingly frequent reports about the Prime Minister’s difficulties with what must be the least flattering photograph ever taken of him. In it, the PM, with hair dishevelled, looks disconsolately down, his features (whether through a trick of the light or otherwise) appearing to melt away southwards, like a great, ancient glacier afflicted by climate change.
This is an unlucky man. Very, very unlucky indeed.
And, more rapidly than anyone could ever have predicted, a man now regarded as an albatross by the party he was, for so long, so desperately anxious to lead.
The weekend extracts from the memoirs of Cherie Blair and John Prescott could, just about, and by those of a charitable disposition, have been explained away as mere publishers’ puffery. However, the attack by Lord Levy, in which he suggested that Gordon Brown should consider his position as Prime Minister, was deeply damaging in its force and directness.
Today, Frank Field, leader of the Labour backbench awkward squad which is making life so difficult for Mr Brown, unleashed an even more direct attack on the Prime Minister and his character. Speaking on the BBC World Service, Mr Field said that he would be very surprised if Mr Brown still led Labour at the time of the next general election (which Mr Field is pretty certain won’t be held until the last possible moment, two years and two weeks from now).
In the interview, Mr Field refers to Mr Brown’s “rages” and describes the Prime Minister’s “unhappiness inside his own body”:
"That's clearly part of the tragedy - on a personal level as well for a party, government and country level - that somebody whose real aim in life is to be Prime Minister, now has the task and seems so lacking in enjoyment in trying to carry it out.”
Frank Field’s comments will overshadow Mr Brown’s attempts this week at yet another relaunch, with a big announcement on long-term care and a preview of the programme proposed for the Queen’s Speech.
To make matters even worse, the BBC News website has taken to illustrating its increasingly frequent reports about the Prime Minister’s difficulties with what must be the least flattering photograph ever taken of him. In it, the PM, with hair dishevelled, looks disconsolately down, his features (whether through a trick of the light or otherwise) appearing to melt away southwards, like a great, ancient glacier afflicted by climate change.
This is an unlucky man. Very, very unlucky indeed.
And, more rapidly than anyone could ever have predicted, a man now regarded as an albatross by the party he was, for so long, so desperately anxious to lead.
