Peter Hoskin

Plenty of posturing from the Lib Dem corner today, as their Spring Conference continues in Harrogate.  Both Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are laying into the Thatcher Years and, by extension, the Tories.  Here, for instance, is how the Guardian quotes Cable:    "[The Tories] have been completely caught flat-footed by this crisis ... They didn't anticipate it. Many of the problems we have originate from the Thatcher years. If you take for example the way in which they demutualised building societies, which became banks, that was a real Thatcher policy and those institutions have been at the heart of the crisis of irresponsible lending. It originated in the Tory years.

Just to flag-up the The Spectator's revamped, online Book Club - which you can access here.  Plenty of stuff there that bibliophilic CoffeeHousers may find interesting - including Book of the Month recommendations (this month: Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones); a massive, well-sorted review archive; and a discussion board.  Would be great to see some of you over there.   To mark the launch, The Spectator's holding a short story competition.  There are full details in the latest issue of the mag - but, in case any of you want to enter, I reproduce the terms here:  To celebrate the launch of the Spectator Book Club, The Spectator is giving you the chance to have a short story published in the magazine.

Oh dear.  You feel it had to happen sometime, and here it is: news that Labour MPs are calling on Gordon Brown to "rein in" Peter Mandelson.  Predictably, it's over the continuing Royal Mail row; something that, as it happens, Mandy's on the right side of.   So far as Brown's concerned, increased hostility towards Mandy puts him in a tricky position.  After all, it was Brown's idea to ennoble Mandelson and draft him back into government in the first place.  He did so against a fair amount of internal opposition.  So if the PM doesn't stand by his business secretary - if he caves into the calls coming from the backbenches - it leaves him looking especially weak.

Last we heard, Brown wasn't convinced that Harriet Harman was positioning herself to succeed him as Labour leader.  But this Mail on Sunday story paints a different picture, claiming that he's actually threatened to sack her for her "disloyalty".  Here's a key snippet: "The Mail on Sunday understands that the Prime Minister’s anger boiled over at a private meeting in No10, with Mr Brown shouting: ‘Who the hell does that woman think she is?’ Sources say Mr Brown swore more than once during heated exchanges with aides on how to silence Labour Deputy Leader Miss Harman. At one point, he is also said to have discussed the possibility of demoting her from her Cabinet post of Commons Leader. One MP said: ‘Gordon is sick to the back teeth of Harman.

Reading Bagehot a couple of weeks ago, on the prospects for a televisual clash between Ken Clarke and Peter Mandelson, it struck me how the dynamics of the situation have changed.  Despite the drooling anticipation of numerous political observers, both Labour and the Tories have seemed reluctant to put their two business frontbenchers up against each other.  But, at first, most of that reluctance came from Tory folk I chatted to - their fear being that Mandelson, face-to-face with Ken, would milk the occasion for all its split-story worth. Now, though, after weeks of strong message discipline from Clarke, that fear seems to have subsided.  Instead, there's much more reluctance on the part of Labour people I know.