On That *Coup*

Well, that was the week that showed us perhaps the worst coup attempt in history. If you can actually call it a coup attempt. Hoon* and Hewitt had no replacement for Brown, no real supporters, no-one to resign from the Cabinet and nothing other than an e-mail that stopped short of actually speaking out directly against the leader they were looking to replace.

Worst. Coup attempt. Ever.

But does the crushing failure of this coup to make Brown look vulnerable for more than 30 seconds mean that we won't see another attempt to unseat him before the General Election? Common sense would say yes; however, we're dealing with the Labour party here, and for them common sense is something that happens to other people. And it isn't just this lack of common sense that makes it like that we might see another lacklustre attempt to end the Brown leadership. No, it is also the psychological state of the Labour party.

See, the Labour party - and in particular, Labour MPs - appear to be psychologically broken. They are conditioned to believe that they will fail, and that their time in power is nearly up. That is coupled with the fact that since Brown became their leader, they have not had any real leadership of such, and instead have had to endure bullying from the man who took over from Blair. This defeatism, combined with a lack of leadership, means concepts like taking the initiative have now become completely alien to Labour MPs.

Yet they are still part of the party that, in 2005, managed to win a comfortable General Election victory, despite having an unpopular leader who had taken the country into an unpopular war. So they - quite rightly - blame Brown for the fact that most of them will be out of a job after the next election, and those who aren't will be consigned to impotence on the opposition benches. And every now and again, amongst the hopeless, sullen faces of Labour MPs, there is the spark of something. A little bit of rage against Brown, and a little bit of desire to fight the terrible political situation they have found themselves in. So someone starts a campaign against Gordon, or hypes up Harman or Miliband to make a bid to replace him. And that's why I think it will happen again. As we near the election, someone else will boil over and make a move - however pointless - against Gordon.

And you never know, it might be Charles Clarke. Who could go all the way and actually make a bid for the leadership. Although, given that chap's temperament these days, he is just as likely to punch Gordon in the face as to try to take his job.

Whatever happens, I don't think the soap opera that is Gordon Brown trying to survive in office is over. There'll be another leadership crisis before he's finally turfed out.

*Who is now facing the consequences of his divisive action. I hope they deselect him, and the clueless cunt has to go get a job in Asda to make ends meet.