Alan Johnson quietly goes about his work

No spin, no rants on Today, no hype.  The man who should be prime minister, but probably never will be, gets on with his job in an efficient way with another U-turn.  The difference being this one is totally justified and will win all party support.  The details matter little.  The point being that ID cards will not happen and Alan Johnson is the man that will be identified with their cancellation.

No doubt will we get a another flurry of speculation about Johnson’s motives with blog posts galore asking, ‘What did he mean by that?’  My guess is Johnson meant very little apart from showing that can he act decisively and is quietly getting on with the job.

Yes, I do wish June had turned out differently and Johnson was now in No10.  Looking back I bet Labour MPs now wish it as well.  As I have discussed since the European and local elections I can’t see it happening.  There will be no plot, no coup and Brown will not go with dignity.  The word is not part of his DNA.

John Rentoul still wants Johnson but it will take more than one sentence from his weekly article to make it happen:

I assume that the Labour Party will recover from its current trough of unpopularity, by which I mean that it replaces Brown with Alan Johnson.

Replacing Brown weeks before the election is too cynical and John knows this.  The only way it could happen is if the polls stay as they are at present, but time is running out for a smooth transition.

The coup should have happened in June with an election in October.  Regretfully, Labour and the rest of us are stuck with Brown.

All I can do is hope that I am wrong and that one of Rumsfeld's famous unknown unknowns will suddenly develop and that Alan Johnson will lead Labour at the next election.