The leadership buzz has fizzled out, but for how long?

Do read John Retoul’s excellent article in the Independent today.  In it, he picks up on how the leadership speculation surrounding Brown has slowly fizzled out over the past few weeks.  Things are certainly quieter than those heady days in late July, when David Miliband was plastering his ambitions all over the comment pages of the Guardian.

There are a number of theories as to why, including: 1) It’s still the recess, the story was always going to die down until Parliament reconvened; 2) David Miliband and the other would-be leaders have had to defer their plotting in respect of the Georgia conflict; and 3) Labour have ever so slightly warmed towards the PM after what was – by Brown’s standards – a quietly effective performance in Beijing.

But as Rentoul points out, the leadership speculation may have fizzled out but the problems which caused it in the first place haven’t. The Tories have actually strengthened their poll lead in August; the economy’s in an increasingly parlous state, and many are laying