Cook “very much hoped” his old adversary of 30 years would end up in 10 Downing Street and be surrounded by a young generation of ministers rather than “old lags like me”. As Labour MPs position themselves for a Brown government (25/1 at the bookies, not bad value), Cook has said that Labour under Blair too closely resembles the Tories. He then lavished praise on the Chancellor and his “real Labour” agenda.

“I think he has been an excellent Chancellor. As he demonstrated on his tour of Africa last week, he has a really powerful, strong social commitment.” Tory Tony was also the target of one jibe from the Ginger dwarf, Brown apparently appeals to “particularly that part of the British public who would regard themselves as traditional Labour voters”. No mention that Brown scares the shit out of the over-taxed English middle classes.