There are plenty of rumours swirling around the Wesminster washbowl, but two are worth pulling out in particular. The first comes courtesy of Danny Finkelstein (who is, incidentally, running a useful rolling post over at Comment Central on the latest leadership gossip):
“Contrary to all previous reports, rumours are now circulating that Alistair Darling would be willing to take another job in the reshuffle, and that the Chancellorship isn’t the be-all-and-end-all for him that everyone had assumed.
Presumably though, this get-out-of-jail card for Brown would hang on offering Darling exactly the right kind of job…”
And then this appeared on Paul Waugh’s Twitter feed:
“Word in Westminster is that at 10pm tonight, when the polls close, a Cabinet minister will quit. Lets see if they do.”
Taking them in order: if Darling would accept another job, then it does rather smooth Ed Balls’ path to the Chancellorship. But I’m not convinced that’s a particularly good thing for Brown, as Balls in the Treasury is one of the surest ways to drive his opponents to open revolt.
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