Turmoil ahead for Labour

The atmosphere in Westminster right now is incredibly febrile, no idea or speculation seems too outlandish to contemplate. But it does seem to me that a couple of things are being overlooked.

1). The Brownites won’t go quietly: All this talk about delegations, letters and rolling resignations often forgets that if the Brownites decide to stay and fight then this process will be very long and bloody. The reason that getting Blair to give a date for his departure in September 2006 was comparatively easy was that Blair did not want to get engaged in an unseemly struggle to stay in power. But it would be a major surprise if the Brownites walked away. After all, from the top down they have nothing else to go to.

2). A multi-candidate leadership race could be very messy and infuriate the public: There are two dangers to a multi-candidate race.