What now for Alan Johnson?

I am one of the first to be glad that the government is now performing a U turn on the subject of ID cards,a scandalous waste of money introduced on the back of terrorism fears.

It was down to Alan Johnson in the poison chalice chair to make the announcement.Some may argue that this was Gordon Brown's way of enacting revenge on a potential competitor.

Mike Smithson writes that

Alan Johnson’s main claim to the leadership, beyond not actually being Gordon Brown, is that he is an honest man of the people. If this announcement is mere political posturing to make him more palatable to the civil liberties Left, whilst not addressing their core concerns, I suspect he will do his ambitions more harm than good.

adding that

I think Johnson needs to go further if he wants to gain political capital out of this. Abandoning the Identity Database for UK citizens would score him real points, and by (for example) making it purely a register of non-UK citizens resident in the UK he could paint it as an immigration issue, with the Tories and Lib Dems on what I would expect to be the less popular side.

Alan Johnson-Gordon will be with us until 2017

This week's New Statesman carries an interview with Alan Johnson who appears to predict that Gordon Brown will be with us for another eight years.

“When Gordon steps down after ten years of successful leadership I’ll be too old anyway.

” he tells Gloria De Piero.

But as the writer says the

comments suggest that Johnson supports Brown but would stand if the PM were deposed

Gordon survives for now

It appears that Gordon Brown with the help of humility for the time being at least.

He seems to have told his MP's that he will listen and learn yet the overwhelming reason is that there is no one with the courage to stand against him and a new leader would see an instant general election.

Those MP's trailing out of the meeting will be therefore shocked to see the latest Come Res poll in the Independent that suggests with Alan Johnson at the helm the party could compete against the Tories.

It's not online yet but the results show that

Alan Johnson could close the Tory-Labour opinion poll gap from 16% to 10% and deny David Cameron a working parliamentary majority.

Johnson draws a line in the sand

It seems clear to me that Alan Johnson has placed a flag in the sand over his prospects for the leadership of the Labour party with his interview in this morning's Times.

Despite the fact that those close to home say it is not intended as a challenge to Gordon Brown,his article setting out the fundamentals of changing the political climate must be seen as the start of a post Brown Labour landscape.

Peter Hoskin writing on Coffee House this morning says that

While Johnson makes sure to mention Gordon Brown is his article ("Again the Prime Minister is leading..."), the measures he outlines are too strident, and the topic too important, for this to be anything other than an attempt to grab the limelight. And while I'm not struck by Johnson's proposed solution - a tweaked version of proportional representation - there are certainly benefits to running on this kind of platform.

Johnson for next leader

Possibly premature but a Politics Home survey has come up with the conclusion that

Alan Johnson would be the Labour leader who would represent the greatest threat to the Tories should Gordon Brown be replaced before the next election.

adding that

70 per cent - of the 100 MPs and political journalists interviewed - thought the health secretary would be right for the job.

Perhaps more interestingly though Ed Balls got no votes at all and there were signs of diminsihing returns for David Miliband and Harriet Harman

Now the health secretary tells us to baton down the hatches

The scramble for polititians to tell us how long and deep the recession is going to be continues unabated.

Hot on the heels of Ed Balls and last nights warning by the Bank of England chief comes health secretary Alan Johnson.

In an interview with the Spectator's Fraser Nelson he hints that this downturn at least in terms of job reallocation could last 18 months to two years.

He is though rather optimistic of the outcome,

If we can get through this, a year, 18 months, even two years, with all the agencies focusing on how you give people skills to fill the vacancies, then you will have a completely different picture at the end of this than you did at the end of the Eighties.’

The last chance for the public NHS

Lord Darzai's review of the NHS is due out today and will be showcased by the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary.

The latter has just been talking on the Today programme where he described the report as groundbreaking and one of the most important developments in the NHS sine it was founded 60 years ago.

Heralding local healthcare and patient choice as being its buliding blocks,it was good to see that Johnson recognises that there should be no blurring of the lines of demarcation between the private and public sectors.

Whether that happens remains to be seen and writing in this morning's Telegraph on what she calls the

heavily trailed that its publication today will be almost an afterthought,

Janet Daley says that

The days of central government being, for all intents and purposes, a monopoly provider of medical services are coming to an end. Not only because it has become economically unsustainable - the fruits of medical progress are coming too thick and fast to be within the reach of a service that is entirely tax-funded - but because the consequences of ideological purity have become absurd and inhumane

The paper also provides an opinion poll which shows that

Labour is no longer the party trusted to bring in the health reforms that are needed to safeguard the NHS for future generations,

Its leading article meanwhile says that

This morning's poll exposes deep anxieties about an institution that may be treasured by the public but which is also seen as wasteful, grossly inefficient and in desperate need of reform - not of more cash. Not for the first time, the politicians appear to be lagging behind public opinion.

Anyone for tennis?

An important week for Gordon Brown is approaching.Once again set to relaunch starting with Lord Darzi's report into the NHS,he willnot be happy about the comments of former or current party members.

On Adam Boulton's show this morning,Lord Levy thought it highly unlikeley that he would be supporting Gordon Brown as the leader in the next general election.

"I must confess to being in shock about such rapid deterioration.
"It is difficult to put the blame on one person. But the buck ends up on one person's desk - the boss, the leader,"

Meanwhile his health secretary Alan Johnson has likened his performance using a tennis metaphor.He calls him a

tennis player happy to stay on the "outer courts" of Wimbledon normally frequented by lower-ranked players with little chance of victory.

Time to move on

Unless any allegations about yesteday's vote surface during the day,I have said my last on the subject of 42 day detentions.

Now to health and today's Ft contains a fictional letter from the health secretary Alan Johnson to a patient explaining why the NHS won't treat people who buy drugs privately.

It's a massive put down for the health secretary and well worth a read.It begins

Dear Mrs Wilson,

I am sorry to hear about your cancer. But I would like to take up a few minutes of your fast-ebbing time to reassure you that, even though my decision to refuse you NHS care if you insist on paying privately for a drug may shorten your life, it really is for the best. I recognise that it may not seem that way to you, but then again you are rather ill and so not in the best state to judge.

Government begins consultation on social care

Perhaps we can get back to some sensible political debate after a weekend of ex political figures cashing in on their autobiographies.

Gordon Brown is set to launch a discussion on social care

According to BBC online

He says that without radical reform, the care system in England alone faces a £6bn shortfall within 20 years.

Brown will say

We know too many people fear the prospect of selling their homes and using assets which otherwise they would pass on to family members and friends [to pay for care in old age] ... We can, and must, look to give people the opportunity and the support to save for their old age in a way which insures them and protects their houses and their inheritance."

And Health secretary Alan Johnson has acknowledged that there is a massive funding gap in social care

the cost of maintaining the current, often inadequate level of personal care services was set to double to more than £24bn in 2026 as a result of rapid growth in the number of frail older people. Without new sources of funding, the government expects "a £6bn funding gap for social care" to emerge within 20 years.

The Independent meanwhile carries a report that the fightback is under way

Gordon Brown is preparing a string of initiatives to help parents, families and the low paid as he launches the Government's fightback against dismal poll ratings and a stream of damaging revelations by senior Labour figures.
Reforms in the areas of education, health and housing will form the centrepiece of the Government's draft Queen's Speech, expected later this week.