Speaking of briefings, another Cabinet member on the receiving end of unattributed muttering is the Northern Ireland Secretary, Shaun Woodward.
Woodward is now extremely close to the Prime Minister, having been appointed to a role overseeing strategy at No 10. He clearly has considerable influence; a couple of PMQs ago, Brown frequently turned to him for urgent whispered advice, ignoring the hapless Alistair Darling, who was sitting between them.
According to this morning’s Times, however, the inevitable “Downing Street source” (who has been even busier than usual of late) says that Woodward is being blamed by Peter Mandelson for the Prime Minister’s reluctance to abandon the line that the choice between the parties is “Labour investment v. Tory cuts”:
“Shaun is causing mayhem. Gordon trusted him to give sensible advice, but he has been a disaster. There are people who are ready to walk out if he doesn’t go.”
According to the Downing Street source, the sensitivity surrounding Labour’s election pitch on public spending reflects the absence of an alternative tactic to portraying the Tories as “cutters”.
“We have to get this right because there is no plan B,” the source said.
Mandelson’s dissatisfaction with Woodward is now such, says the Times, that he refused to participate in a No 10 strategy meeting until Woodward was humiliatingly ejected.
The incident is also related in this morning’s Mail, which comments:
Lord Mandelson’s view of Mr Woodward’s skills as a political tactician is said to border on contempt.
The Mail also claims that the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, shares Mandelson’s low opinion of Woodward and is “equally determined to downgrade his influence”.
All this is more bad news for the increasingly feeble-looking Prime Minister. Mandelson, Balls and Woodward are three of the four members of Brown’s so-called “praetorian guard”, the fourth being Tessa Jowell, who sat next to him at PMQs this week, looking completely bemused as he outlined his plans for a “zero per cent rise” in public expenditure.
Jowell, however, may have already decided on her own strategy. The Mail reports that she intends to stand down from the Commons at the next general election.
