David Miliband Slithers Out of Another Coup Attempt Against Gordon Brown

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It would appear that Gordon Brown has escaped yet another attempt to replace him as leader of the Labour Party, following a request by Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon for a secret ballot on his leadership.

To the public this may seem like an idea hatched by Hewitt and Hoon, with perhaps the backing of a few insignificant members of the Party, but if we look a little closer we will get a better notion of who was really behind this attempted coup.

We all know how politicians are famous for making speeches and comments with hidden meanings, and we saw plenty of those yesterday. Cabinet Ministers took a considerable amount of time to show their support for Gordon Brown, with David Miliband being one of the last to make a comment.

In an initial statement by Miliband, he said "I am working closely with the Prime Minister on foreign policy issues and support the re-election campaign for a Labour Government that he is leading," Roughly translated, Miliband is saying that he works closely with Brown on foreign policy, but not so closely on other areas (meaning he does not agree with everything Brown is doing). He is also saying that he will support Brown "if" he is still leading the Party in a re-election bid, so that he can keep his position in government if the rebels fail to remove him.

Clearly, Hewitt or Hoon have no chance of becoming leaders of the Labour Party themselves, and were obviously making this attempt on behalf of "others". From the response Miliband gave and the look of disappointment on his face, there can be no doubt that he had some involvement in all of this.

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When asked by the press for his further comments on the coup attempt (late yesterday afternoon), he simply referred to his earlier written statement and said he was busy, which is hardly the response you would expect from a loyal member of the team!

However, as it became more apparent that the coup was likely to fail, Miliband's support for Brown increased a little.

In July 2008 David Miliband was forced to deny he was plotting a leadership bid, following an article in a newspaper.

Whether Gordon Brown is replaced or not, it is unlikely that the Labour Party will have any chance of being re-elected next year. However, I suspect that the battle for power is more about the benefits it will bring in the future, and Hewitt and Hoon obviously have ambitions to play a small part in that later.

Sadly, these "sleazy" political games are not restricted to the Labour Party, and are used by all the main political parties. The only way to possibly avoid them is to consider voting for a party that has never been in power before. This has it risks, but so does the system we have to normally endure!