The Independent had the defection of Brian Sedgemore (which would, of course, be a much bigger deal were he actually staying on as an MP) as a scoop this morning, quoting from the veteran Labour MP's letter to the paper:

"I voted against the war on Iraq and it becomes clearer every day that Blair decided to go to war after meeting Bush on his Texas ranch in 2002. After that, he lied to persuade the country to support him.

"The stomach-turning lies on Iraq were followed by the attempt to use the politics of fear to drive through Parliament a deeply authoritarian set of law-and-order measures that reminded me of the Star Chamber."

The paper also reports that Sedgemore believes a "small group of unnamed fellow MPs who are standing down are secretly planning to leave the Labour Party in protest at Mr Blair's leadership after the election".

There is much speculation as to who that might be.

An NOP poll for The Indy put Labour on 40 per cent, up three points on last week, with the Conservatives down two points on 30 per cent and the Liberal Democrats unchanged on 21 per cent.


The Lib Dems made much of their capture of one of old Labour's last castles, with his wonderful soundbite urging voters to "give Tony Blair a bloody nose".

But the prime minister shrugged off the attack, telling the Guardian:

"I've come to the conclusion that for those people who are opposed to the war, the more I put my point of view, the more it simply irritates them."

Blair also played down Michael Howard's recent comment that the Tories were "two goals down at half-time", something that Mr Howard's beloved Liverpool could find themselves tomorrow night.

And, while we all know the Labour press machine is pretty slick, this seems a bit of reach...

Deputy prime minister John Prescott had some unexpected visitors in the early hours.

Gordon Brown, meanwhile, claimed the economic mantle of, er.. Margaret Thatcher?


The opposition's latest anti-Blair billboard says: "If he’s prepared to lie to take us to war, he’s prepared to lie to win an election". The Tories, of course, supported the war.


Finally, I suppose this was only a matter of time... but it's not quite as bad as this.