I had taken his many denials that he would run against Gordon Brown at face value, until I heard his extraordinary contortions on Any Questions today.

He is clearly a man who is giving serious thought to the pressures building up amongst the?? band of Blairite modernisers in the Labour party that they need a candidate. He refused to rule himself out in all circumstances from a?? contest against Gordon Brown.

He seems to be a man who is ready to take up the mantle of candidate if the May elections results are very bad for Labour, and if there is then a groundswell of opinion that Labour needs a choice. I could hear him saying:

"I have always said I was not a runner and rider. To have said otherwise before the Prime Minister announced he was standing down would have been wrong. It was most important to get on with the job we were elected to do, under the leadership of Tony Blair.

Now the Prime Minister has told us when he is leaving, and following the poor election results in the May elections, I have been approached by a number??of senior colleagues asking me to stand. They have assured me there is considerable and growing support for??my candidature.?? I have therefore decided to make the forthcoming election a real contest etc etc"

??When asked why he previously said Gordon Brown would make an excellent Prime Minister he would doubtless intone:

"I have the highest regard for my friend the Chancellor, and had thought he could take over from Tony. In the light of recent election results and polls which show he is associated with the problems we have as a party, I have come to realise that we do need to move on. Our principal opponent is a younger man with new ideas. Labour has to move with the times. As a representative of a younger generation I will set out a new agenda for Britain, which Gordon would find impossible to do."

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