John Rentoul in The Independent on Sunday argues that Brown won’t be forced out this time but will be in the autumn. Here’s the crux of his argument:
This is a scenario that causes a certain amount of heartburn in Tory ranks.“When he faces his next convulsion, probably in the autumn, the timetable will look very different. Alan Johnson will be able to come in and promise an early general election – in the spring of next year; that is, roughly, when there has to be an election anyway and nobody has anything to lose. Then, the only calculation that matters is, as James Purnell put it in his resignation letter, whether Brown’s “continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more not less likely”, or, as Stephen Byers asked more bluntly: “Is Gordon Brown a winner or a loser?” We know what most Labour MPs privately think is the answer to that.”
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