Making life difficult for Gordon

Frank Field has been up to mischief. Since leaving government in 1998, he has not been a fan of Gordon Brown, but last week he declared all-out political war against the Chancellor. In an article for the Guardian he outlined exactly why Mr Brown should not become party leader, arguing that he is too associated with past failings to offer hope for the future. He concluded his attack with four words which caused even more havoc, ‘Step forward, David Miliband.’

If Mr Field were an ordinary maverick Labour backbencher, no one would much care what he thought. But he has been proved right too often in the past to be written off as a crank. Bookmakers have duly made the Environment Secretary the one most likely to challenge Mr Brown, which in Westminster is the equivalent of passing someone a black spot. All previous challengers now lie mangled. So what, I ask, does Mr Field have against poor Mr Miliband? Does he want him assassinated?

‘Do you mean David is not pleased with me?’ he asks, smiling. Well, I say, he describes suggestions that he should stand as ‘ridiculous’ and seems to find the spotlight mildly terrifying. ‘Well, this is a test for him,’ says Mr Field. ‘I just thought it would be useful to say we could skip a generation, I mean, we also have John Reid. And Charles Clarke has been making speeches recently. But whatever happens, I think it is crucial that we have a Cabinet-level contest.’

Mr Field’s aim is to alert Labour to what he sees is a calamitous mistake: entrapping itself in the Blair–Brown era. A leadership race would bring the party to its senses, by seeing what a dire candidate he is. ‘Gordon is not good at responding quickly,’ he says.