Why the plot failed against Brown

Allegra Stratton has a fascinating account of how the plot against Gordon Brown failed in the Guardian this morning.

There were many twists and turns over the course of the week but it finally fell down on Monday evening.

On Monday at 3pm the rebels met. All their info was collated on a five-page spreadsheet across which names, mobile phone numbers, "other telephone numbers" and personal non-parliamentary email addresses were set out horizontally along with the initials of the rebel MP who had brought them on board and vouched for them.
Zealots who wanted Brown out were given the number zero and those newly persuaded the number one. Zero zealots made up most of the first page; ones extended onto the second and together they came to 54. Short of the 71 crucial figure but over the 50 they had briefed journalists would trigger publication.
But they decided that evening to perform a u-turn and announced they would not go public.