Desperate times

How to force Brown out?  That is the question that increasingly occupies the minds of Labour MPs.

The latest wheeze is for a large number of the comrades to absent themselves from the Commons at the time of the Queen’s Speech:

Someone who is not a "usual suspect" but a serving government minister has offered this scenario. When the Queen's Speech is put before the Commons in two weeks, large numbers of Labour MPs will fail to be there for the vote, so many that it will be defeated, Brown will have no parliamentary programme, so he will have to go.

There is one small problem with this cunning plan apart from it being in the newspapers.

If a vote on the Queen’s Speech is lost then there will have to be a vote of confidence when, presumably, a new leader would face the Commons.  Just how is this going to be achieved in super-quick-time under the full glare of the media?

Let’s all relax and wait a few days until we find out if Mandy has worked his magic in favour of his old boss or if David Miliband is off to Brussels.

The ducks are nearly in a row, but we’re not there yet.