No wonder Gordon was so keen to stay in Northern Ireland today, he knew he was due a battering over banking at PMQs and poor Harman had to take the flak. Surprise, surprise that within an hour of PMQs finishing, the BBC gets tipped that Brown will be returning to the mainland today, before any deal has been reached.  So what was the point of him staying another night?

In a last deluded bid to exert influence on the world stage Gordon has once again been sounding off about the deluded global  Tobin tax. Melvyn King put the boot in yesterday: “I don’t know anyone on the international circuit who’s enthusiastic about it … Of all the measures being considered, the Tobin tax is probably at the bottom of the list.” Gordon would have known that this was going to be raised at PMQs today and forced Harriet to take a bullet for him. Once a coward…

By cowering across the water Gordon has even let the Tories gain ground on him and his relationship with his beloved Obama. Hague was able to ally the Tories with Obama’s ideas for banking reform and slam the government’s notion that people would actual listen to anything Brown suggests anymore. Harriet was poorly briefed and floundered, Gordon must be wondering if, had he fought, he would have been able to defend himself better. If only he had a little courage.