Bright's Blog: Inside Track

Brown’s big moment

Never underestimate Gordon Brown. That would appear to be the lesson to take from this year's Labour conference by his political enemies inside and outside the party. The Prime Minister began the week in Manchester as the architect of Britain's economic downturn, besieged by challengers to his authority. He ended it by making a credible case, in his party's eyes at least, that he is the only man for the ... read more

As the increasingly fractious Labour tribes gather for the party's annual conference in Manchester, the air is heavy with the poison of regret. What if Gordon Brown had called a snap election 12 months ago, before the polls and the economy engulfed him? What if Brown's critics had stood a candidate in last year's leadership election? What if Tony Blair had faced down the challenge from rebels over the summer ... read more

It's fair to say James Purnell divides opinion. Depending on where you stand on the political spectrum, the 38-year-old Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is either the saviour of the Labour Party or a smug Thatcherite fifth columnist undermining the very principles of the movement. He has been tipped as a future leader by the Sun and the Spectator, while a recent focus group in the Times suggested ... read more

It was the same with "cash for honours" - from the outset, the political class (including many journalists) made out that this was a storm in a teacup. The suspicion that very rich men were buying influence with the party of government was either nothing new or not a story even though, if true, this was a serious crime.

Until this weekend the Westminster village was in denial about ... read more

There is nothing quite like a Morning Star fringe meeting at the Trades Union Congress to remind you of how far British politics has been transformed in the past two decades. In fact, there is nothing quite like a Morning Star fringe meeting, full stop. Where else in 2008 could you hear three union leaders restate their commitment to replacing capitalism with a socialist society? We may be approaching the ... read more

Just by way of a thought experiment, let's try to be as generous as possible to Gordon Brown and his beleaguered government. It has become tiresome watching the Prime Minister's best friends in the media turn against him, so why not try to view the world as No 10 would have us see it? With some effort, it would be possible to characterise Brown's fortunes as follows.

The catastrophe of ... read more

There is something uniquely dreadful about the situation Gordon Brown found himself in as he returned from his summer holiday. He should have been basking in the reflected glory of the "Team GB" Olympic success. This could have been his "1966 moment". But somehow even the words of congratulation from Downing Street misfired. "I think the whole nation is totally delighted and really proud at everything that's been achieved," he ... read more

The battle lines are now drawn and the fight for the soul of the Labour Party has begun in earnest. In some ways this is a blessed relief. David Miliband's pre-holiday intervention in the Guardian lanced a disfiguring conspiratorial boil that had been festering for far too long. The candidate of the "anyone but Miliband" campaign has yet to emerge, but already there is talk of a union-backed "bloke ticket" ... read more

Over the summer, as new Labour's "Prosecco plotters" plan the overthrow of Gordon Brown from their Tuscan villas, they could do worse than plan a day trip to nearby Siena to visit the city's town hall, a symbol of civic autonomy since the 14th century. There, spread across three walls of the so-called Sala della Pace (Room of Peace), is a magnificent fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti known as the Allegory ... read more

May I suggest some summer reading? Consider it as a little extra homework, or an intellectual workout for the holiday season. The book is Democracy: Crisis and Renewal by Paul Ginsborg, professor of contemporary European history at the University of Florence. Ginsborg is a public intellectual of international renown, but you probably won't have heard of him because he writes mainly for the Italian press. The book is only 124 ... read more

There was a curious story on page three of the Sunday Times at the weekend. With the headline "Universities told to favour poor schools", it concerned one of the most intriguing institutions created by Gordon Brown's government when it was still in its full honeymoon flush.

The National Council for Educational Excellence (NCEE), chaired jointly by the Prime Minister and his two secretaries of state, Ed Balls (Schools) and John ... read more

We interview Ed Balls the day after yet another terrible murder of a teenager in London. Sixteen-year-old Ben Kinsella was stabbed four times in the neck and chest following a party to celebrate the end of his exams. Kinsella was described as a model student who was likely to get a string of A grades at just the sort of inner-city comprehensive the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and ... read more