Democracy Dismantled In Last Gasp For Power

Democracy has been dismantled while a squalid game of petty politics engulfs a fag-end government and people and parliament are left in limbo. Mandy is left lording it up as the winner and voters forced to take a back seat. 

The party is over for the New Labour Party on the horns of a dilemma in a lose-lose situation, driven only by a last gasp lust for power.

As a broken Brown government ignores parliament and the people for a self-serving game of cat and mouse politics, Brown is left a hostage to his own cabinet and a hostage to his former foe. 

Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, has managed to achieve what ruthless politicians can only dream of - absolute power with absolutely no accountability. 

The Party is paying the price after Mandy's intervention to save the skin of the ex-Supreme Leader.

The parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) meets for a showdown tomorrow, angry and frustrated at the autocratic and dismissive style of Brown's leadership.   

But the PLP is stuffed with lowly ministers and pay-roll MPs who've taken the Downing Street shilling to toe the line. 

It would take an honest and honourable member to put the Party and the people above their own lust for power and greed. A PLP revolt stands little chance of toppling the regime unless MPs get off their backsides and show that it's parliament not the iron grip of government that should call the shots.

Not since the 1950s has there been such a government of the unelected and unaccountable with so many unelected peers entitled to attend some cabinet meetings. 

Not since the rotten boroughs has parliament been forced to bow to corrupt peer patronage. 

Not since god knows when has there been one man with a fancy title of First Secretary of State who holds so much power and influence and the fate of a prime minister in his vile and grubby hands. 

The stuffing has been knocked out of Brown's waning authority. He's left in limbo land with a collapsing compromise cabinet stuffed with a motley bunch of cronies and yes men, with unelected Mandelson calling all the shots and pulling all the strings. 

Hope for democracy is on the horizon with the opposition motion this week of no confidence, by Welsh and Scottish nationalist parties and looming support from mainstream Tory, LibDem and backbench New Labour MPs. 

But even if the motion is allowed through, expect a rerun of the 42 days detention debacle, when the Northern Ireland DUP held all the cards with a squalid game of pork-barrel politics set to repeat itself. 

Today the Sunday Times exposes the bitter rift between Brown's henchman Balls and Mandelson, while a leaked email swirls around in which Mandy attacks the "angry and insecure" PM fresh from his disgraceful and embarrassing performances in Normandy (right side-bar). 

Things should only get worse but in an undemocratic autocratic regime, anything that crops up no matter how damaging makes no difference to the arrogant power-crazed political elite. 

Looming in the background are the "terrible" European election results, due out later today, set to show a disaster for the government with the shocking undemocratic state of affairs where the ruling government of the day will be left with an impotent political voice in Europe. 

In a democracy, if the Party came behind UKIP, or dropped below 20 per cent of the national share of the vote, the game should be up.

But even with this likely blow and government set to take a hammering, the spinners are already preparing briefing notes ready for the automatons to be wheeled in front of the TV cameras reading from the carefully-crafted spinning script.  

At the heart is the intractable dilemma for the Party. Stick with Brown and hope things will get better, which they know in their hearts it can't before spring 2010, while bunkered Brown clings on until the bitter end. Or cut their losses now, instal Blair prop Johnson and the inevitable general election in the autumn.

Despite the best efforts of Downing Street spinners  that all is hunky dory in Brown town, it is clear that both the PLP and grass roots members are split right down the middle. 

Dave must be delighted. In lose-lose New Labour land only the Tories are winners. Cut Brown loose now and a general election will see a small Tory majority. 

Limp on and an increasingly angry and frustrated electorate will punish the now discredited New Labour brand,  leaving the Tories with a landslide from which it will take a decade to recover. 

New Labour just doesn't get it. The Party could salvage some dignity, respect and a few seats if only Brown had the good grace to go and the Party had the guts to let the people have their say instead of forcing them to take a back seat.

But Mandy is having a lovely time. The power behind the throne is now wearing the crown. Why spoil the party for the sake of the Party.

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Frantic Friday In Brown's Big Brother House

Bunkered Brown has escaped from his Big Brother House leaving a trail of chaos in his wake. Leadership challenges and election slaughters are playing second fiddle as the ex-Supreme Leader rearranges the few deck chairs left on the sinking ship and the stuffing is knocked out of his waning authority. Left in limbo land with a collapsing compromise cabinet, it's all hands to the Downing Street pumps. 

Away from the over-active spinning, one thing is certain. This is not the cabinet reshuffle Team Brown wanted or planned for. 

Blairite Party greybeard, transport secretary and expenses fiddler, 'three homes' Hoon, is the latest to quit. 

A prime minister is being held hostage by his own cabinet. The piper is no longer calling the tune, despite the Downing Street spinning 'lines to take', revealed here by the Guardian, trying to fool some of the people some of the time. 

The Orange Party asked on Monday if the Party could wait until Friday. The answer came back loud and clear - no way. The knife has been wielded, the challenge is now real. The die is cast. 

At the stroke of Number 10, Blair-boy Purnell dropped his bombshell and spectacularly stuck the knife in, urging Brown to go, the first direct challenge from a cabinet minister to his leadership. At a stroke he pushed the impending New Labour wipe-out in the English shires onto the back burner. 

How on earth could you have a guy up to his neck in MPs' expenses fiddles in charge of catching benefit cheats? But unlike fiddlers iffy Smiffy and bleating Blears his resignation came uncoded with the full force of a direct challenge to Brown. 

Beleaguered Brown won't stand down. Power will have to be prised from his cold dead fingers. Without a home secretary, communities secretary, work and pensions secretary and defence secretary, Brown's last throw of the dice was to salvage something from his fag-end government with a damp squib reshuffle to capture the news agenda.

Dogged by record poor poll ratings, facing disaster in the elections and a very real political coup,  trying to win back authority over a rebellious Party was the last throw of the dice. But instead of a radical reshuffle for born-again-Brown, it's the last gasp of a dead duck.

Serial flipper Darling refused to budge, despite Saint Vince calling for his head. 

Defence secretary Hutton quit the cabinet, putting loyalty to Purnell and the Blairite cause above any loyalty to the PM. 

He who wields the dagger never wears the crown, so both Johnson and Miliband are staying schtum for the moment.

But Johnson has shown his true colours. A turn-coat and Blair prop, reviled by the grass-roots Party but revered as a so-called 'working-class hero' by the Guardianistas, he's lumped with the poisoned home office chalice taking the Brown shilling from the hand of a fallen and discredited leader. 

In the end Brown didn’t have the balls to make Balls chancellor. That will cause dismay among Balls' City spivs but bring relief to the parliamentary Party and the country. 

With wife Yvette off to DWP, the Balls-Cooper partnership is now firmly entrenched in the top echelons of government. The first time a couple of triple homes flippers have got their feet under the cabinet table. 

Despite the best efforts of the Downing Street spin machine, the Orange Party isn't going to take the total wipe-out unfolding in the English local elections lying down. Even a New Labour spinner would be hard pressed to find some crumbs of comfort. 

Four English shires are set to put two fingers up to New Labour and boot them out of local government in a modern day Lords Of The Rings:

Despised New Labour Orcs are being driven out of the Shires in the battle for Middle Earth and Gordon the Brown is left licking his wounds. Now all eyes turn east to the Land of Backdoor to halt the rise of the evil EU empire. The Dark Lord took his eye off the ball, leaving Dave the White to lead the fight and clean up the moats and votes. 

As the Orange Party has pointed out throughout this hectic week, the seeds were sown by the parliamentary Labour Party showing increasing anger and frustration at Brown's dismissive and autocratic style. 

Moves to oust Brown are still very much alive. Senior backbench loyalist, Barry Sheerman, not known for plotting and boat-rocking wants a secret ballot of New Labour MPs to test the Brown water.

PoliticsHome has an indispensable tally of politicians who've quit, taken sides or haven't yet come out the woodwork. Brown seems safe enough for the moment but he's a broken man heading up a dismal government. 

Between now and the expected Euro massacre results on Sunday into Monday anything, quite literally, could happen. And with a collapsed government it very often does.

But it's not all doom and gloom in Brown's Big Brother House. Billy no mates Brown goes off to the Normandy beaches for a photo-shoot with his new found pal Obama while making sure Her Maj doesn't get a look in. 

The head of state should dissolve parliament while broken and busted Brown is on the road to nowhere. 

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Brown Is Busted, Get Used To It

Bunkered Brown has run out of time and options. His days at Downing Street are doomed. He's pinning his hopes on pulling a rabbit out of the hat and shuffling the Titanic deck chairs. But there's no plain sailing for a sinking ship. 

If the rabbit turns into a chipmunk and no-one wants to play musical chairs, bunkered Brown is busted. He better get used to it. 

At Westminster all eyes and ears are on Big Ben when the clock strikes 10. Votes will be cast and the die is cast for Brown. Alea iacta est. The next frenzied 24 hours will be a long time in politics.

The Chipmunk scurried back to Salford to spend more time with her expenses after delivering battered Brown a killer blow on the eve of elections. Public humiliation without having the guts to sack her has left the sisterhood seething. A Revenge Of The Chipmunk may be on the cards sticking  the knife in the ex-Supreme Leader.

The backbench revolt is real enough no matter how Mandy tries to spin it otherwise. Brown's fate was sealed by the angry Parliamentary Labour Party who have had enough of a Party leader who doesn't give a toss about them. 

Rebels may well have a cause as they try to gather more than the magic 70 signatures to force a leadership challenge. But the cyber plot of an email doing the rounds to oust the once Dear Leader is a waste of time. There's no need. Mortally wounded, Brown is toast. 

The Orange Party well remembers other letters doing the rounds. They usually don't come to much. A useful seed but little else. The plan is to undermine the PM so much that a top dog will pull the rug from under him.

All the usual suspects are there. Clarke, Byers and Milburn. Once again, there's talk of a 'stalking horse' joining with the rebels to force a contest and stick the knife in. 

But all this mindless manoeuvring is pointless. Beleaguered Brown's fate was sealed by the PLP and Guardian calling on the Party to cut him loose. With friends like that you don't need enemies. 

Disastrous results from today's local and Euro elections are a side-show but they will provide the catalyst for the end-game as Brown is finally forced to face up to reality and admit the game is up. 

The sheer chaos sparked by the MPs' expenses scandal and blind panic over disastrous poll ratings says it all. The government is falling to bits.

The end can only come come at cabinet-level. Pre-emptive strikes by two homes secretary Smith and rocking the boat Blears sent a clear message that the time is up. Out of the chaos a whole raft of challenges have popped up. When the authority of a prime minister is undermined to such an extent it really is time to spend more time with his family. 

The key lies in the once vaunted reshuffle. Flammed up by Downing Street as part of born-again-Brown to re-assert his authority. it was all designed to give the government breathing space and a new lease of life to cling on ahead of the inevitable general election. 

But it's all too late. Brown should have struck while the expenses iron was hot. Two of those earmarked for the sack to show his 'strong leadership' have now gone. His chancellor and foreign secretary don't want to budge. If they are forced out, chances are they would rather quit the cabinet leaving another direct challenge to Brown's authority. 

Brown is not in the business of promoting his enemies to stop the plotting but the neat solution to entice back Blair bruiser John Reid with the poisoned chalice of the home office again fell on deaf ears. Promoting his henchman Balls to the treasury would sign his political suicide note to the PLP and the country. 

It's looking increasingly likely that Brown simply cannot carry out a major reshuffle and that leaves him a dead duck.

The option left is to refuse to budge with the backing of His Master's Voice Balls and the tight cabal of Downing Street cronies in it for the lust of power and glory. Then trying to prise him out clinging on by his fingernails is hugely difficult for MPs or ministers. 

But then a prime minister's power and support simply melts away with a government in meltdown. 

Meanwhile the long-suffering public are angry and fed-up with MPs' expenses and desperate for a general election. Instead they have to put up with the charade of petty power politics. Only through a Euro election and a Middle Earth battle in the English shires can they make their views known at the ballot box. 

But use their vote they must. If only to pick someone who will fight tooth and nail for a referendum on the disgraceful Lisbon Treaty and someone who isn't in it for themselves to feather their nest as the next Euro millionaire on the EU gravy trail. That narrows the field somewhat. 

Mid Picture: Blears "Rocking The Boat" shipwreck brooch 

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'Dark And Dangerous' Hospital PFI Con-Trick

Wheels are falling off New Labour's disgraceful con-trick with doctors warning hospitals built using the PFI scam will put a drain on the NHS for years to come. Faced with crippling debts and cash going straight into the pockets of big business, it's time to pull the plug on the shameful shiny temples to New Labour.

The British Medical Association is warning of 'dark and dangerous times ahead' as a whole generation is set to be left with a £50 billion building bill going straight into private pockets. The NHS is struggling to pay back the bill for its hospitals which are worth only one-fifth of the amount they cost to build.

Millions of pounds are being squandered on a vast army of hospital managers and private PFI consultants spawned with the sole purpose of trying to balance the books and plot the next PFI debacle. Front line services and patient care are left playing second fiddle to the obsession. The NHS could save around £350m a year just by cutting back on the management parasites.

But the disgraceful con-trick is being played out right under the noses of the long-suffering patient and public. Private firms design, build and finance more than 100 PFI hospitals, while the NHS is left to repay the costs plus crippling interest for decades.

Using public money to prop up these shabby deals is a ludicrous waste. Patient care is being forced to take a back-seat to the process of the PFI schemes. Hospital managers spend more time struggling for ways to pay off the debt and put in new bids, leaving patients and front line services to suffer.

The smoke and mirrors con-trick of PFI schemes has been pursued with fanatical zeal and obsession by the government. A crafty way was found of building its shamed legacy on the back of the magic trick without the spending appearing on the public balance sheet.

Hospitals, schools, colleges are the tip of the iceberg. College building projects too are on hold because of the PFI funding fiasco. The list is endless. A neat trick was found to fool the public into a false sense of security during the boom years when credit and the living was easy.

Just borrow the cash to pump into PFI schemes. Private firms and the government were onto a winner. Now it's pay-back time as the chickens come home to roost and the country is saddled with the huge debt of government folly.

The BMA is warning repayments could cripple the NHS at a time when the budget is set to be squeezed to pay for the years of borrowing.

Using public money to support private firms in this way doesn't make sense. Repayments will be a drain on resources that could be going on patient care. Private firms are struggling to get funding from banks because of the depression recession.

Hospital building projects could put NHS finances in serious peril in the coming years, warn doctors as they urge ministers to pull the plug on new projects.

Trotting out the tired old treasury spin that PFI hospital schemes are "value for money" is an expensive joke. Arguing that PFI projects are put through a rigourous testing process to make sure they hold their own in a private market doesn't hold up to close scrutiny.

PFI schemes simply use a crafty 'value for money' weighting to make sure they come out on top in the 'value for money' stakes.

Some 20 or so new hospitals are now in the pipeline as the government is set to use public funds to prop up the private firms so they can push ahead and make an obscene profit without a thought for the future or the patients.

But why should the government care? The shiny New Labour temples will be left as a legacy long after the fag-end government has bitten the dust, leaving behind a legacy of debt for generations to come and an NHS up to its ears in debt to pay for the scam.

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Infamy, They've All Got It In For Me

Knives are being sharpened for beleaguered Brown with Blairite Blears the latest to quit the crony cabinet ahead of a belated reshuffle of the Titanic deck chairs. Rats are jumping from the sinking ship before they are pushed leaving chaos in Brown's Big Brother House. But it's Carry On Regardless as the bunkered ex-Supreme Leader heads for the bear pit of the commons. 

As battered Brown faces meltdown, expect a two-pronged savage attack from Cameron and Clegg repeating calls for a general election now. But has anyone the guts to wield the knife? No-one has a clue, especially the struggling ex-saviour of the world.

The fate of bunkered Brown was sealed, on Monday as a muttered vote of no confidence and leadership challenge from backbench New Labour MPs turned into a roar. The die was cast. Alea iacta est.

Iffy Smiffy's leaked move yesterday to quit the cabinet was no coincidence. There's some serious plotting going on behind the scenes.

As the Orange Party pointed out here on Monday - some ministers and MPs have finally realised they've nothing to lose, so why wait for the double humiliation of defeat at the hands of the English shires and Euro elections and a cabinet reshuffle.

Strike now with the confidence of 'no confidence'  and there is still a chance for the beaming Blairite working-class hero Johnson to step into Brown's shoes and salvage something from the chaos.

A week is a long time in politics but this may be the beginning of the end for bruised and battered Brown. One more cabinet quitter and Brown is toast.

Mortally wounded, he's left crying 'infamy infamy they've all got it in for me' as cabinet ministers tainted by the MPs' expenses scandal take the only option left open to them and quit with some dignity and a bag full of expenses while they think they're ahead.

Bleating Blears had been set up as a sacrificial lamb but pulled a fast one today on the eve of local elections. She's the tip of an iceberg. There may yet be more waiting in the wings coming hard on the heels of disposable two homes secretary Smith with two other frontbenchers who also quit. Euro minister Caroline Flint is tipped as hot favourite.

Significantly both Blears and Smith are not standing down at the general election. They plan to come back fighting, taking the fight to Brown and His Master's Voice Balls as Downing Street's disreputable band of brothers now fights a rearguard action.  

One of the nails on the coffin has been hammered in by the Guardian calling time on Brown and calling for him to be "cut loose". The liberal-leaning Guardianistas have had enough and it's William Morris curtains for Brown. And that leaves only the sad old Mirror beating the drum for Brown and his Downing Street cronies.

In a neat pre-emptive strike the quitters have got in quick before their own sackings and at a stroke undermined any authority left in the prime minister, wrong footing him at every twist and turn.

So who will wield the knife? Will there be a Geoffrey Howe moment signing Brown's political death warrant in the commons?

Tomorrow's crucial English local and Euro elections, now play second fiddle to the drama played out at Westminster plunged into the depths of despair. Any hope Downing Street had of spinning the reshuffle as time for born-again-Brown has been blown out of the water.

Knowing she was toast, Blears fired the starting gun for a leadership contest but Brown is a plotter not a quitter and he'll try to cling on until the very bitter end.  

But waiting in the wings are the next big knockout blows, the backbench revolt doing the rounds and an alliance of Plaid Cymru and SNP putting forward a motion of no confidence in the government.

If the two are joined by the Tories, LibDems and backbench Labour MPs that could be deadly. If Brown isn't a dead duck by the weekend he could well be next week.

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The Day Brown's World Fell Apart

The wheels are falling off bunkered Brown's bandwagon with the carefully leaked departure of two homes secretary Smith as a raft of ministers jump ship and Brown's cabinet slowly falls apart. Chaos has descended on the Big Brother House. A week is a long time in politics for the struggling Supreme Leader.

Ministers are dropping like flies using the cushy escape route of standing down at the general election to collect their blood money. Not bothering to wait for the humiliation of a Euro defeat and expected reshuffle, they've decided to reshuffle themselves. 

The government is clearly out of control. Brown is so weak he cannot even keep the weary troops in order. 

Key Brown bag carrier, digital minister, Tom Watson, up to his neck in the Smeargate scandal against the Tories, is the latest in a string of New Labour MPs and ministers quitting at the next election.  

Now all it takes is one of the top dogs to join the growing band of angry backbench Labour MPs with a vote of no confidence and leadership challenge and Brown could be toast. 

The rats are deserting the sinking ship but the question is did they jump or were they pushed and was Smith's departure craftily leaked to steal Brown's thunder.

Or perhaps it is all part of the Supreme Leader's master plan to create chaos in the Big Brother House, leaving just Brown and his Masters Voice Balls to save the world. 

New Labour MPs have latched onto a crafty plan to "step down" at the election to make off with their ill-gotten gains and be rewarded for services to brand Brown with a fat pay off.  

The announcement from shamed MP David Chaytor, suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over his expenses, came as under-fire minister Beverley Hughes and Blair's former health hatchet woman Patricia Hewitt both announced they would be stepping down at the next election. 

But the biggest fish to jump out of the net is disposable two homes secretary Smith, the first cabinet minister to announce she is quitting the frontbench. Though it is unclear whether she'll stay on to fight the election or quit to spend more time with the family. 

Iffy Smiffy's departure comes as no surprise, only the timing. Her days were numbered. Expenses claims and her husband's penchant for taxpayer porn sealed her fate long ago. She was handed the poisoned chalice of the home office as the fall-guy. It was a dirty job and someone had to do it but Smith was not up to the job. 

The leaking of Smith's departure steals the thunder from Brown's reshuffle. Harbouring dreams to be the other man with a plan, today's shenanigans blow out of the water any authority left in the beleaguered prime minister and turns his 'bold, decisive leadership' over MPs' expenses into a joke.

All eyes are now on what this means for Brown's long-awaited cabinet reshuffle expected either this Friday or next Monday after the disastrous Euro elections are announced. 

If there's a run of cabinet resignations, then the heat will be on, making a mockery of his plan to use the reshuffle for born-again-Brown. 

Brown is making it clear he ain't going anywhere but he's now on a road to nowhere and the plotters and political pundits will be having a field day. 

Maybe all it takes is a latter day Geoffrey Howe to savage the ex-Supreme Leader and signal the end of his disastrous premiership? But Brown is a plotter not a quitter. He won't relinquish his iron grip on Downing Street, government, parliament and the people without a fight. 

A vote of no confidence seems to be getting closer and louder, either from his own backbenchers or from an alliance of opposition parties in the commons. 

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Will The Party Wield The Knife Before Fun Friday?

Billy no mates Brown is fighting his corner all on his lonesome, hanging on in there until a very bitter end, with only his Balls and a BBC comfort blanket for company. An election rout on Thursday is set to be followed by frantic reshuffle Friday. But are the daggers being sharpened already and who has the guts to wield the knife?

With only a shuffle of the cabinet pack and a new economic quango stuffed with cronies to get bunkered Brown out of his economic mess, the  cries of 'infamy infamy they've all got it in for me', are ringing loud as the stage is set for another rerun of Carry On Regardless. 

Downing Street spinners and strategists are working overtime as the future of their Dear Leader hangs in the balance. Twice in 24 hours the BBC has handed beleagured Brown the airways to repeat the tired old mantra that he ain't going nowhere. 

First telling Marr on BBC TV yesterday that he wouldn't go, then again this morning on the Today programme, methinks the man doth protest too much. 

Using the guise of speaking directly to the people, Brown's comments were aimed squarely at the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) telling them what he hasn't the guts to say to their face. 

But all that may be set to change. Why should the rats wait to be pushed from the sinking ship when they can jump now and save face?

Silly Billy Brown just doesn't get it: "I have got to get on with the job ... Every morning, I get up and I look at what people want to see... they want to know someone is taking this country through the economic downturn ... I am staying on to do the job I need to do ... I am not arrogant or unwilling to listen to people but I do believe people want us to get through this economic downturn." Ad infinitum ad nauseam.

Deluded Brown needs a reality check. He's the only one in Britain who hasn't got talent. He could do the country a favour and book himself in the Priory with pal SuBo.

New Labour MPs are asking the billion dollar question plus expenses. Just how can Brown survive? A new improved Brown is at best unlikely at worse a joke. A cabinet coup? At the moment they seem happy to leap with the Supreme leader over the cliff of oblivion. 

Bruiser Charles Clarke has taken the assassin's knife out of the sheath but appears unwilling to use it. Greybeard Straw has made it clear he won't be the one to tell Brown to go. 

Mandy is playing a crafty game of cat and mouse with the Blairites waiting in the wings. After all he who wields the dagger never wears the crown. 

A quiet whisper from the men in grey suits? More likely the men in grey cloth caps as the PLP ponders a leadership challenge from the backbenches and MPs and ministers consider their future.

Faced with nothing to lose and maybe something to gain, a vote of no confidence and challenge from backbenchers needs just 71 to sign up to the final solution to dump Brown for a beaming Blaritie Johnson.

At the heart is real anger over the question: How come there's one law for brothers like Chaytor and Morley forced to quit and another law for Brown's cabinet and ministers. Why hasn't McNulty and Smith been given the boot?"

And with more hyprocritical double standards and doublespeak why does Brown defend his 'serial flipper' Darling saying there was 'no substance' to the claims, while useless Darling was apologising for the error of his ways and busy whipping out the chequebook. 

Murdoch's powerful media group is calling it for Cameron. Brown's last hope, the Mail is reporting that the "vultures are circling". The despised Balls is being lined up for His Masters' Voice in the treasury. Ministers are running round like headless chickens wondering if they're being lined up for the chop. 

With the Party left wondering how low can Brown go in the polls, just what is the point of hanging on for a humiliating defeat at the hands of the English shires and in the Euro election and the humiliation of being hounded out by the Downing Street reservoir dogs?

Make a move now and, with the public sensing that the tide is turning, maybe a few wavering votes can be picked up. 

It's down to the PLP but don't hold your breath. Stuffed with a spineless bunch who sold out to New Labour and took the Blair shilling, few have the guts or the fight left in them. 

The MPs' expenses scandal has knocked the stuffing out of many MPs. But backbenchers do have a chance to  take ownership of their Party from the clutches of Brown's tight cabal with a no confidence vote.  If they are  angry enough they might just have a go.

Mid Picture: Peter Brookes, The Times

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