Heirs- apparent usually have a short life in politics: they are seen off either by other pretenders to the crown or by the wary incumbent. An oddity of Labour's present situation is that the party has lived so long with the near-certainty that, whenever Tony Blair stepped down, Gordon Brown would succeed him. At least until last week the assumption within the party was that Mr Brown might not even face a challenge, other than from some left-wing patsy with a desire for 15 minutes of fame. That is still quite possible. But the damage that the impatient chancellor has done to himself by appearing to allow the recent cack-handed plot against Mr Blair to proceed has given new hope to the previously dormant Anyone But Brown camp.
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