Well I didn't see that one coming.  There were clearly a few wobbles going on earlier on in the week, but I didn't expect anything to come from that quarter.  A Kinnockite putsch - who would have thought it?

Labour is getting quite practiced at coup management these days although there was certainly less need for the strong arm of Lord M yesterday than in the previous attempt in June last year.  Lord Mandelson made it clear yesterday that this was 'not a time to over-react'.  Nobody did - in a big way.  If anything Miliband, Harman and Straw underreacted quite spectacularly.

MPs, on the other hand, went bonkers as you can see from the coverage on LabourList.  Twitter too was alive with disgruntled activists berating the pair for their timing.

HoonHewitt is done with, but is damaging - the public have a keen nose for division at the top.  The Prime Minister is, of course, wounded.  But so too is David Miliband, who again, has been forced to choose and in trying to be true to himself has not been able to be either loyal or decisive in his actions.  He who wields the knife may not wear the crown - but I'm really starting to think that he who thought that he might possibly wield the knife, but then put it back and had a cup of tea instead, may not be in receipt of the big prize either.