Brown 'Keeps Buggering On'

The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary won't go willingly. Indeed they are offering their undying support to the Prime Minister (except in the matter of getting out of his way).

Brown wants Balls at the Treasury, Mandelson at the Foreign Office, Vadera at Business with himself saving the world from his nice new war room, beginning with some lovely piccies of Brown with his supporter Obama on Sunday. The Leadership of the House is Harman's, and she's just about the last of the wimmin and she's the elected deputy Leader, so he can't lay hands on that to move Darling forcibly. The Home Office has been gutted of all its interesting bits and Jack Straw has those over at Justice.

Brown can't just ignore formal government structures because he has to gain control of monetary policy, inflation targets and quantitative easing, and they're with King and the Committee. The Chancellor has to take back the independence, such as it is, of the Bank of England, under reserve powers in the 1998 Act.

Brown wants one more desperate round of scorched earth economic policies to 'draw lines' between wicked Tory 'cuts' and Labour 'investment' in even more public debt funded realised socialism.

Sterling is still falling.

Update:
Defence secretary John Hutton has resigned and will leave Parliament at the next election. (FT)

Mr Hutton's resignation statement:

Mr Hutton has issued the following statement:

"I have decided to resign from the Government. I will also be standing down as a Member of Parliament at the next general election.

"This is not the place to go into my reasons for leaving. But I can say that it has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to take. I was delighted to be appointed Secretary of State for Defence last October. I have always had the deepest admiration for our Armed Forces, and everything they do.

"My respect and affection for our Service personnel, and the civilians who support them, has grown still further since I became Defence Secretary. Seeing our people go about their tasks at home and on operations with the professionalism and commitment for which they are renowned has impressed me immensely. It has been my privilege to have been responsible for the best armed forces in the world.

"My decision has been made even harder by the fact that our forces are engaged in very difficult operations in Afghanistan, having completed successfully our combat mission in Iraq. I am humbled by the sacrifice of our young men and women.

"I will be very sad to leave the Ministry of Defence. I wish all of you - and your families - well for the future and thank every one of you for your efforts."