I was very struck by this post by ChrisD overnight.

The only way I ever saw Gordon Brown still leading the Labour party through a GE, was if there was a good to certain chance they would win. Even if he was not openly challenged or quietly pushed, I have never bought the into the idea that he would therefore cling on till the bitter end to lead his troops into an absolutely certain defeat in 2010 like Major did back in 97′. Those in the Labour party who think that Brown is a John Major type politician in that respect, are going to be left feeling sorely disappointed and let down.
I seriously could see him walking away and leaving the whole government and his *beloved* Labour party up the creek without a paddle.. There seems to be an almost blind faith within the party that Brown is there until the GE if they decide not to oust him, in much the same as that conviction that he would be a great PM despite being totally untried in a contest to prove it. I am with Daniel Finkelstein’s friend on this. The Macavity theory

Mike Smithson