Plot may have fizzled, but questions hang over Brown

Gordon Brown has just agreed to a series of three, prime-time TV debates with David Miliband.

Only joking. David Miliband has actually woken up this morning and decided to give a slightly more explicit message of support than the mealy-mouthed evasion he managed after seven hours thought, last night.

The Foreign Secretary was doorstepped at his house in Primrose Hill, north London as he left for the Foreign Office this morning.

He had to do this if he was to get on with his job, but the delay and the clear attempt to hold back and hope Gordon Brown toppled was extraordinary. It makes you wonder, amongst other things, about those TV debates that Gordon Brown HAS signed up to.

The Twelfth Night rebellion has opened a whole new excruciating line of questioning for the Prime Minister about his ability to inspire the respect of colleagues.

And what guarantee will Gordon Brown be able to offer that even if Labour won the election, he will be the Prime Minister of a future Labour government, given that every six months his colleagues try to get rid of him and in this latest attempt senior members of the Cabinet seem to have been heavily implicated?

Related: Brown ballot coup – what did Darling say to the PM?