Jowell’s torment is a gift from the gods to Gordon Brown

There has been an iron rule at Westminster since New Labour won power nine years ago. When Brown is strong Blair is weak, and vice versa. Imagine a seesaw. This weekend Brown is up, feet dangling in the air, smirking. The Chancellor is the big winner from the Jowell debacle, so much so that it is hard to see how the Prime Minister can ever recover. Blair’s premiership — like John Major’s only much more so — has ended up mired in sleaze. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, naturally, is taking full advantage.

In marked contrast to Tony Blair and his allies, Gordon Brown is impervious to the trappings of office. This has always been the case. I remember conversations with my friend Charlie Whelan, Gordon Brown’s former spin-doctor, on the eve of the 1997 general election. Charlie would look forward to lavish weekends at Dorneywood, the magnificent country retreat long enjoyed by Chancellors as a perk of office.