David Aaronovitch saves me the trouble of answering a question posed a few days ago by Shuggy. Not that the question was addressed solely to me - but to me among others, yes. Shuggy's question assumed that support from the left for Blair's continuation in office on the basis of his foreign policy record made no sense. But that wasn't the only issue at stake in the recent goings-on. David Aaronovitch's article spells out what else. There's this:
And for what was this all done? Mr Blair was going in 2007 anyway, and just about everybody knew it. So the consequence of the Watson attempted coup has been to pull the date forward by about three months, while wreaking fabulous damage on the Labour Party. It's like having your car crushed so that you can fit into the one available parking space; maybe it's better to wait a little.And there's also this:
Mr Brown has, for some time now, seemed to regard that he is not Prime Minister but only Chancellor, as the product of an unfairness. He feels that he has a grievance that he is somehow entitled to have sorted out. And it just isn't true. He is entitled to nothing, except for appreciation of his performance as Chancellor (which should, after all, be enough).