Gordon ‘seals the deal’ with Tony

There we have it.  The three-times-election-winner returns to the hustings.  Blair will “make a series of carefully timed interventions in the run up to polling day”

The former prime minister is to play a key role in Labour's election campaign with a brief to target David Cameron's "failure" to modernise the Conservatives.

All very well, but it would appear that Blair has other matters on his mind during the latter stages of the campaign:

Mr Blair will attend the first conference of the National Achievers Congress in Kuala Lumpur, which starts on 23 April. He will then travel to Singapore for the second, which starts four days later.

There is no question about his election winning ways, but there is a risk in bringing Blair back.  The shadow of Iraq will loom large over anything he says, a subject that Brown would prefer to be forgotten during the campaign.

Mandelson, who is not tainted by Iraq, is more than capable of reminding the voters that the Tories haven't changed:

I remember '92.  I was standing for the first time myself in Hartlepool. People were disenchanted with the Conservatives but I'm afraid they didn't look at us with great enthusiasm either. We hadn't remade ourselves as a party, we hadn't brought about the changes in our party that the public demanded. It is very similar with the Conservatives now.

Brown, for once, should fight the election on his record and Labour’s future plans, rather than depend on his former leader, however tempting it might be.