Monday 9 June 2008

Votes and anniversaries

Another Monday, and the start of what may well turn out to be Gordon Brown's worst week since the last one.

The crunch vote is on Wednesday, although it feels as if we've already been covering this story for 42 days or more.

The shadow Home Secretary, David Davis told The Times: "Whips have been ringing up the left-wing members of the Labour Party and saying, ‘Vote against 42 days on Wednesday and you get David Miliband on Thursday'."

He doesn't report whether any wavering MPs responded: "Well, what's the downside?" although presumably the tactic wasn't used on the Blairite wing.

Gordon Brown has been so busy telephoning backbenchers he probably hasn't had time to plan his anniversary for June 27. Channel 4 are starting the commemorations tonight.

The Conservatives have thoughtfully called the Henley by-election for the previous day. The first anniversary is usually "paper", although not usually of the ballot variety.

The game of managing expectations is already underway, with various newspapers already reporting internal Labour thinking that may lose its deposit.

But what's £500 when you're £20m+ in debt?

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