42-days: the fallout

The point of all those bribes was so Gordon Brown could wake up to headlines after the 42 days vote saying “principled Prime Minister holds firm to his principles and wins a knife-edge gamble.” Instead, he is today pilloried – and most harshly by his own side.

“Desperate Brown scrapes through” says the Guardian, quoting Dianne Abbott saying it was a “grubby bazaar”. Just how grubby is shown by the Daily Mail which names those concessions. “Winner or Loser?” asks The Independent’s front page and editorial argues for the latter (“A victory that only exposes Mr Brown’s weakness”). The Mirror’s spread says simply “Day of Shame”. The Times’ leader says simply “Westminster for Sale” saying this horse trading will only further lower the public’s opinion of British politics.

The only good write-up was in The Sun which has emphatically backed the 42 days. A lap-of-honour press conference is due at 10.30am