If Milburn is going to be running the election campaign its sure to mean that the Brownites are going to be left out in the cold, since this High Priest of the Blairite brand of New Labour ideology is not going to want room in the manifesto for any more tax and spend wheezes. Not that the public finances can stand any more of that any way. It also doth methinks puts an end to the Blair is going to go because the-fat-daughter-is-at-the-pills-again, he-is-at-the-end-of-his-tether, and his-heart-is-dicky speculation. I always thought that was tosh. He’ll go on and on and on as long as he can. Blair is too vain to leave with things in a mess and his place in history uncertain. Obviously the odds on Milburn being Blair’s successor will be slashed at Ladbrokes first thing Monday morning, but perhaps still worth a flutter…

UPDATE : Both Times & Grauniad say Gordon Brown wants him to stay in the bosom of his family. But they conflict about Prescott, Times say Prescott resisting Milburn yet Gruaniad says the “two men respect one another”. Is that good?

UPDATE: Spin Automatic Smear Cycle “Milburn is NHS privatisers hired help” – so what? The Labour party itself gets plenty of donations from them NHS profiteers.