DIVIDED IT STANDS

l MICHAEL Howard was right, at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, to raise the issue of the way in which Tony Blair is running his government at the moment. The shambles over the Cabinet reshuffle is demeaning to the whole process of government and the only explanation for it is that the feud between the Prime Minister and Gordon Brown, and between their respective supporters, is once again almost out in the open even though a general election is within sight. Mr Blair's claim, made at his press conference on Tuesday, that “The government I lead, I would say, is the most ideologically united government that I can imagine for a very long time” hardly bears examination. The clash of personalities in and outside the Cabinet is a reflection of deep divisions about the course the Labour Party should take in the next decade, whether it should move even more to the centre-right or consolidate itself as a traditional centre-left social democrat party. Of course, Mr Howard got nowhere with his question because Mr Blair “doesn't do answers”. And, in a way, the Prime Minister's insouciance served to underline the fact that he knows the next election is as good as won regardless of the disunity in the government and Labour Party. The latest Populus poll showing Labour steady at 32 per cent, the Conservatives dropping two percentage points to 30 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats gaining two points to stand at 26 per cent, showed that opinions in the country are stable and that Labour is set for a comfortable victory. The only things that could change this situation would be the resignation of either Mr Blair or Mr Brown, or a serious decline in the economic feel-good factor in the country.
By RAY FLEMING