Westminster blog

Fortunately I’m off on a long weekend, racing up the M1 away from all the action in Westminster. But I couldn’t resist some parting thoughts.

- The resurrection of Mandelson is a reminder of Gordon Brown’s strengths. The prime minister is skilled at surprise, set-piece attacks. Think back to the Bank of England independence move, his first few weeks at No 10, his first cabinet, and a few of his early Budgets. All this of course highlights how poor and leaden he is at defence – an arguably more important skill for a prime minister.

- Loyalty to Gordon Brown is not a fast track to promotion or a ticket to political survival. The prime minister has shown he is willing to dump mates and acolytes to serve his own interests. And he has more often under promoted than over promoted allies. Examples: Des Browne (promoted by Tony, sacked by Gordon); Douglas Alexander (what happened?); Jack Straw (campaign manager to Justice Secretary?); Tom Scholar, former chief of staff; Damian McBride and Charlie Whelan (let’s see what new role Damian carves out); Nick Brown (why was he ever deputy chief whip?); and Shriti Vadera (has she ever been given a portfolio to match her influence?). And  I’ve always wondered how it must feel to still be a ‘Brownite backbencher’ with ambitions to be a minister.

- Disloyalty can pay. Gordon Brown enjoys tying the hands of his potential enemies with patronage. And he rarely sacks rebels. Examples: David Miliband, John Hutton, James Purnell, Ruth Kelly, Alan Johnson, Peter Mandelson, Margaret Beckett

- Poor old Jim Murphy. After deftly handling the Lisbon Treaty bill through the Commons, Mr Murphy was all but promised a promotion to “Celtic Minister”. He’s been swatting up on Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland since the spring – but the call has never come. The DUP and Sin Fein are still squabbling over policing, meaning the (in favour) Sean Woodward can’t be moved quite yet. Hang in there Jim.

UPDATE: Murphy is the new Scotland minister, to take on the SNP head to head