Will he? Won’t he?

I have not yet commented on the big event of the last week – the entirely expected announcement that the Prime Minister Tony Blair is to step down so I will now. Well we have known it was coming and I have to say I was rather surprised that having had so long to plan his campaign launch Gordon Brown had his face obscured by the autocue throughout most of his speech. We all knew Brown would be the favourite and as time has passed one by one the potential rivals have dropped by the wayside leaving only two from what is termed the left of the Labour Party to mount a challenge. We now know that one of these Michael Meacher has decided to step aside to allow John McDonnell the chance to challenge Mr Brown. The question now is will he or won’t he manage to obtain the necessary 45 signatures that are required if he is to be allowed on to the ballot paper. My view is that he will because I think there will be sufficient left wing MP’s who although they know Brown is likely to win will use the opportunity of nominating McDonnell in order to demonstrate their left wing credential in the safe knowledge that the policies put forward by him stand very little chance of ever affecting their own re-election chances.