Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Reid resigns

The unravelling of New Labour starts here. John Reid’s decision to quit the cabinet today is loaded with unanswered questions. He has said he’ll back Gordon Brown as leader, but did he decide he couldn’t work with Brown? Did they have a fundamental disagreement about the level of autonomy he’d receive as Home Secretary? Did Reid—keeper of the Blairite flame—decide the show is over and that it’s time to leave the stage?

Reid is a rare talent in the government, easily the best communicator in the cabinet. There’s no doubt that Gordon Brown’s government will be the weaker for his absence. Will he now retire to his house in the south of France or stay on the backbenches and make mischief? Nobody who has seen Reid in private in the last few weeks and months could say this was a man preparing to collect his silver carriage clock and shuffle off home.

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