More on Johnson’s intervention

The Coffee House blog has a couple posts, here and here, on what Alan Johnson has said this morning in The Times.  Both miss the point.

Johnson has to have a policy that has already been developed that he can sell quickly to the electorate.  He hasn't the time to develop policy.  As I have argued, if there is to be a new Labour leader there would have to be an immediate general election.  What Johnson has done is to cleverly pick something that voters may well back.  If they did and there was a hung parliament, the LibDems would support Labour keeping the Tories out.

As I discussed below, Johnson hasn't decided to move yet.  He has floated an idea in the hope it will gain traction.  He will only move after the June elections if, in his judgement, he can close the gap on the Tories and keep them out of power.