MAYBE it's the miserable weather, but MPs departed for their summer holidays with a whimper rather than to the sound of popping champagne corks on the Commons terrace.
It is no wonder they are limping rather than skipping, particularly on the Labour side.
Asked what kind of majority would be satisfactory for the government in the Glasgow East by-election, one minister said: "A win will do at this stage."
Insi
ders predict Labour will do it, but that the party will only stagger to the finish line.
One senior MP said cynically: "It doesn't really matter whether we win by one or 25,000, there will be those in the party who will say the result is disastrous just to push Gordon out. He must establish what his vision and story is before September to carry the support to see us through."
It is perhaps little wonder that some of his ambitious aides are soon departing for Washington, while the PM struggles to find anyone willing to be his speech writer.
On a lighter note, one English Cabinet minister, phoning Glasgow East residents to ask for their vote, remarked "everyone I speak to sounds like Ian McCartney", the former party chairman, who has lost none of his East Dunbartonshire twang.
Beyond the by-election, another crunch point will be Labour's National Policy Forum at the end of the month. This is where the horse-trading between Labour's hierarchy and its sugar daddies – the unions – will take place.
There is a push from the Left for a more redistributive tax to penalise high earners.
That has been vetoed by the Prime Minister – for now.
One minister said a balance would still have to be struck. "If we concede too much, we are screwed and will never stay in power. If we don't concede enough, we are screwed and will never receive any funding."
With all these woes facing Labour – which will be laid bare when its annual accounts are published later this month – the Tories could not be blamed if they appeared slightly smug. But according to party insiders, this is one of the few concerns they have about their leader.
David Cameron's increasingly vicious ripostes at the Prime Minister (he called him useless, spineless and dithering in one half-hour session, among other things) could backfire: people are beginning to feel sorry for Mr Brown.
The full article contains 402 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
