Are Labour ministers genuinely beguiled by Gordon Brown’s merits?
As Labour party officials began to sweep up the debris of this week’s attempted leadership coup against Gordon Brown, Jack Straw stepped forward to tell the nation that Mr Brown will emerge all the stronger from this week’s events; with the attempt far from denting his authority. “I think,” the Justice Secretary confidently told reporters, “it will actually have the effect of bringing people behind the leadership even more.” In terms of choosing words that sought to put the best possible gloss on a disastrous political setback, it bore an echo of Emperor Hirohito’s remark to his subjects as Japan faced imminent defeat in 1945. “The war situation,” he announced, very shortly before surrendering, “has developed not necessarily to our advantage.” Maybe Mr Straw’s topsy-turvy judgment was skewed by Britain’s weather. A blanket of snow can play tricks with perspective, making everything that is black appear white; like the world viewed as if it were a photographic negative. But now that the
