Alison McGovern hasn’t had a glittering career outside of politics. According to her website she was head girl at school in 1998, don’t you know, then on to UCL. She worked briefly as a researcher at the House of Commons before going to spin for Network Rail. She was elected in May, and as Guido reported at the time, immediately promoted to the dubious role of Gordon Brown’s PPS. Though no longer a frontbencher, or even a participating Member of Parliament, Gordon found it necessary to recruit such a minion.

You would think that after Brown’s abject failure to turn up to Parliament to represent the people of Kirkcaldy, Alison would have quietly dropped the laughable non-job description, but no, she is still using it today to promote her role as a Labour Yes2AV spokesman. So how has Gordon been keeping his PPS busy?

The  job normally entails:

• Being with the Minister at all times in the Chamber and for meetings on the Parliamentary estate. Gordon has given one backbench speech in an adjournment debate since May 2010 and asked a handful of written questions.
• Liaising between Commons and your bosses Government department. Gordon doesn’t have a department.
• Controlling access to the boss for other MPs who want to see him. Would anybody be seen dead seeking Brown’s advice?

Many would argue there is little point to Gordon Brown in his current role, let alone his PPS.

As Cameron touches down in Egypt, it seems the root of all the Middle-East trouble and other problems to blight world leaders has emerged:

Pictured left-to-right: Egypt’s Mubarak (gone), Jordan’s Abdullah (forced to preempt trouble by sacking his entire government), Scotland’s Jonah (gone) and Italy’s Berlusconi (awaiting trial). Going well for all of them…

And after forty years of uncontested rule, it was never going to end well for Gadaffi after this:

The curse is never far away…

Old blog favourite Sir Ronnie Cohen’s political journey is almost complete. Having gone from keeping Gordon Brown in his pocket and throwing wads of cash at that disaster, he has warmed to Cameron and is coming on board with the Big Society bank. Having donated some £1.8 million to Labour, Guido highlighted that Ronnie was caught spinning for Dave on a BBC Four program about the big society a couple of weeks ago:

It’s going to be tough for Baldwin to find a line to bash this particular dodgy non-dom city donor.

Given the level of denial about Gordon’s little problems, mainly concerning anger and throwing things, it was good to see Ed Miliband finally acknowledge there was a problem after all. He put down an off-balance and angry Dave with “don’t let your anger cloud your judgement… You’re not the first PM I have said that to.” Ouch…

A well scripted line that bashes one with the other, but why did Ed turn a blind eye in the bunker? The clear ploy to whack his predecessor came at an interesting time. Why, when on the front foot already, did he choose that moment to drag up the past? Almost as if he was distancing himself from Gordon Brown…

UPDATE: For those wondering what Dave’s prop was in the chamber today it seems someone in Ed’s office had the not so brilliant idea of giving out notebooks to get members to contribute ideas called New Politics, Fresh Ideas. It was blank, and quietly dropped.

There is something a little Gordon like about Ed Miliband’s flurry of activity today. The Prime Mentalist went through relaunch after relaunch and the Son of Brown’s latest attempt to lead the agenda has all the hallmarks of his metaphorical father. Ed is set to tell the people of Newcastle that they won’t have the same opportunities that their parents did because of the spending cuts. Once again the head is in the sand and the fingers are in the ears.

If the next generations suffer it will be for because of the tax burden they are under to service the government debt. Given every kid born under the last Labour government will have to overcome the weight of £17,000 as their share of the debt, it’s no surprise Labour’s pollster Stan Greenberg can pull out stats that say over 60% of people think life will be tough for the next generation. They’re broke…

Sir Ronnie “PFI” Cohen donated £1.8 million to Labour in the past and bankrolled Gordon’s ascendency to the top. Regular readers will remember that at one time the venture capitalist had a direct debit paying £20,000 a month to the party. He pretty much owned Gordon Brown.

Bad news for Ed Miliband then, as it seems this once loyal party donor has drifted away. Guido was most surprised to see Ronnie pop up on BBC 4′s “Justice: Fairness and the Big Society” as an audience member, quick to spin for Cameron:

“The gap between rich and poor is getting bigger. Those left behind find it extremely difficult to rise out of poverty. The government hasn’t been able to do anything much about that even though it’s cost an absolute fortune for decades… I think what the Big Society really means is that space between government and the private sector, which needs to deal with social issues in a professional way. And Cameron has said that every penny out of the hundreds of millions of pounds that are unclaimed assets in bank accounts will got to create a Big Society bank, who’s role will be to empower those who want to help others.”

Watch here from exactly 40 minutes in.

If the Tories hadn’t made enough of a mess from dodgy non-domiciled donors it would be worth trying to turn Ronnie…

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so Guido was highly amused to see the Daily Mirror attempt to steal his Curse of Jonah meme and apply it to “Disaster Dave”. While the fact that Cameron saying good luck to the Scottish not British “star” Andy Murray, off-form Lewis Hamilton and the England World Cup team did coincide with losses, it’s odd the Mirror couldn’t work the England cricket team, who Cameron wrote to before they departed for down south, into their story.

Cameron may well yet bring down planes from the sky, floods, fire and a banking meltdown, but until then there will be only one Jonah…

Brown popped up to represent his constituents in Kirkcaldy on the American news channel CNBC earlier. Guido is sure Ed Balls was as happy as he was to see him. Given Osborne has spent the last six years systematically trashing Gordon Brown’s reputation, it must hurt when he is compared to the old Prime Mentalist. However there are those that suggest the two have more in common than just recent appearances, particularly in regard to the politicisation of the Treasury. It’s not every day that you get such a clear comparison though. Who was it that said:

“Then we had a terrible month of weather which hindered transport and communications in business in the country.Obviously it has been a difficult few months. But that just shows just how fragile the recovery is.”

Yep, Gordon Brown in April 2010 blaming the less than encouraging rise in growth on the snow rather than his own taxation policy. Surely Osborne wouldn’t follow suit…

Keep an eye on the country’s debt counter this afternoon as it sails into thirteen figures – hitting a trillion pounds:

And that doesn’t include all that debt off the books…

Is it just Guido that found Ed Miliband’s Christmas message rather intense and more than a little creepy?

He’ll be smiling and swaying next…