Last we heard, Brown wasn’t convinced that Harriet Harman was positioning herself to succeed him as Labour leader. But this Mail on Sunday story paints a different picture, claiming that he’s actually threatened to sack her for her “disloyalty”. Here’s a key snippet:
“The Mail on Sunday understands that the Prime Minister’s anger boiled over at a private meeting in No10, with Mr Brown shouting: ‘Who the hell does that woman think she is?’
Sources say Mr Brown swore more than once during heated exchanges with aides on how to silence Labour Deputy Leader Miss Harman.
At one point, he is also said to have discussed the possibility of demoting her from her Cabinet post of Commons Leader.
One MP said: ‘Gordon is sick to the back teeth of Harman. He has always found her very difficult and he has had enough of her disloyalty.
‘If she thinks she is untouchable, she had better think again.’” It’s a good indication of the fear and loathing inside No.10, but I doubt the threats will come to anything. Harman may currently be on manouevres, but Brown must know that sacking her will just fuel the party split stories, whilst increasing the risk of Team Harman launching a sustained campaign against his leadership. Such are the tricky situations that struggling Prime Ministers find themselves in…
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