Will Royal Mail ‘slow down’ be enough for rebels?

The reshuffle has resumed! No, not the Cabinet – that’s fixed, for now. It’s the junior ranks. Some scope here for another walkout or two… but not any household names.

Gordon Brown’s first response to the abysmal results last night is to shore up support on the left of the parliamentary party. They – most of them – have been wary about throwing in their lot with the Blairites and centre-ground MPs wanting Gordon Brown to go.

Promising them a “slow down” on Royal Mail part-privatisation and an inquiry into the Iraq war are tailor-made concessions, it is hoped, that will firm up their opposition to a coup.

But one Cabinet minister told me that abandoning the Royal Mail part-privatisation till market conditions improve may not be enough for the backbenchers.

Labour opponents know that a Prime Minister who can’t reshuffle his own Cabinet can’t throw his weight about with a radical policy agenda the party doesn’t like.

The government’s suggesting it’ll proceed with a half-way house policy – continuing with the Royal Mail part-privatisation bill, laying the powers to achieve it, even though the bidders aren’t offering enough money right now.

The Cabinet minister I spoke to said that bill still wouldn’t get through.