Anyone but Brown

It is interesting to see that the anyone but Brown camp have had a bot of a splash in the media today. For example the Observer has this story reporting that Blair believes that if David Miliband stands, he will win, whilst this from today's Mail on Sunday reports that Miliband's people have received signals from Tony Blair that he should stand.

We also now know that Jack Straw is going to be Gordon Brown's campaign manager. That seems tacit acceptance that there will be a campaign. Personally I still have doubts. Mind you I did bet Mike Smithson £10 that Brown would win unopposed!

This morning on the BBC's Sunday AM program, we had Peter Mandelson and Jack Straw discussing the leadership, Peter did not look comfortable in the shots I saw. Mind you Mandelson is an EU commissioner who was supposed to have committed to leaving party politics behind so you have to wonder why he is sticking his oar in. Then again Mandelson and rules do seem to be strangers.

What does it all mean? Well the most telling quote is in the Mail piece:

"David has not ruled it out completely but realises that it is a huge gamble. If he lost badly, it could be ruinous and if he won, it could cause such a violent backlash from Brown that it may not be worth it."

Or in other words Labour are just gearing up to tear themselves apart.