Guido has been asking around his Labour Party sources. Nobody has any knowledge of a planned Milburn putsch – though one source said he would support one. The difficulty in a candidate getting 71 nominations from the PLP is irrelevant, the rules state that a challenge had to be in place in April for the party conference. Guido’s Sage of the Handbook says it doesn’t really matter about the rules. If a significant number of Labour MPs told Brown to go, he would have to go. If only people like Milburn, Clarke, Hoey or McDonnell say it, he can weather it.

The sage thought that if only a handful of members of the cabinet were to tell Brown to his face that he had to go for the sake of the party, that would be that. Jack Straw would be the man deputised to do the job. Brown has been a disaster for the Labour Party, he can’t be the change he promised, he is clearly physically and politically exhausted. Will Jack be the one to put him out of his misery on Friday?