FROM JEREMY PAXMAN
Hello
The Book of Common Prayer talks about God being present wherever two or three are gathered together in his name. Perhaps there is some comparable belief in politics. But, thus far, the Labour conference in Manchester seems to me to be distinctly lacking in whatever it is that moves upon the face of the deep. To call it subdued would be unkind to dudes.
At the risk of courting that wonderful disdain that passes across the faces of policy-wallahs when you ask them 'So, is Gordon going to survive?' (after which they sigh, look at you pityingly, and say something along the lines of 'why are you people in the media only interested in personalities, instead of the issues?'), the only question anyone is asking is precisely that.
Except they're not asking it. Not in public at least.
Because there is no obvious contender to wrest the leadership from him, the party seems to have decided to pretend there isn't a problem.
To some extent, the Bonfire of the Vanities which engulfed the world financial system has done Gordon Brown a favour: why change leader when what's needed is a massive dose of stability?
The Chancellor's speech this morning was all about how the government is handling the crisis, and will continue to handle it.
There could be two possible dangers for Brown in this approach, which we'll explore tonight.
Firstly, is it really a brilliant tactic to make your survival dependent upon the capitalist system not having another collective fit?
The second is the flip side of the phenomenon from which the Brownites have drawn such comfort. It is true that there is no named contender trying to knock him off his perch (although watch David Grossman tonight to see how David Miliband's spent the day).
But there is certainly anxiety right across the party. Just because it has - right now - no specific focus doesn't mean it has no existence. One might equally say that when such a proportion of the party has become disillusioned, for a variety of reasons, it poses a greater danger than someone with ambition merely chancing their arm.
Churchill once pushed a plate aside, saying 'this pudding has no theme'. What theme might Brown find tomorrow? The pollster Frank Luntz will give him some ideas of how he might inspire his party with the conviction that it still has a clear purpose.
In the meantime, we shall hear on the programme from John Prescott and Ed Miliband on what they think he should do.
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