How things stand

So where are we now?  After James Purnell’s resignation last night, Brown really is on the ropes.  In fact, I can’t see him nor his Presbyterian conscience lasting the next couple of weeks, or even the next few days.  Sure, folk like ever-spineless David Miliband and Jack Straw have come out in support of Gordon, but it’s the silences which remain interesting: in particular Alistair Darling, Alan Johnson and Harriet Harman.  Darling, because if he’s forcibly removed from the Treasury, then we might expect him to go nuclear on Brown.  And Johnson and Harman, because they’d probably be among the first in the leadership queue were Brown to go.  Their words could tip the balance one way or the other.

The flashpoints remain.  If Brown misjudges the reshuffle – read: promotes Ed Balls – then it could spark a revolt among other Cabinet ministers.