Tom Griffin (London, OK): Sunny Hundal suggested last month that the debate about the direction of the Labour Party could be cast as a confrontation between two party pressure groups, the Blairite Progress and the centre-left Compass. If that's true, then Friday's Guardian exchange between Progress director Robert Philpot and Compass chair Neal Lawson may be a useful guide to the parameter...

Yesterday lunchtime I was at my Housing Association Group office at Norwich to chair a UNISON recruitment meeting. Our guest speaker was Charles Clarke MP, former Home Secretary and Labour MP for Norwich South. I had bumped into Charles at the Progress Conference last year and invited him to...

Charles Clarke has clearly come back from holiday with fire in his ample belly. He has returned to the theme he was whistling so loudly a few months ago: that Labour is finished under Gordon Brown. Charles Clarke is worried that Labour will self-destruct Since the party only needs to lose 25 seats to be deprived of an overall majority in the Commons, it is a foregone conclusion that it will be out...

One of Labour's most intellectually confident heavyweights would like to return to government. Charles Clarke on Blair, Europe and what Gordon Brown must do next Charles Clarke is not a natural back-bencher. In recent months he has taken to sitting to the side of Labour MPs during Prime Minister’s Questions, more an observer than a foot soldier, and out of the media spotlight since last autu...

Charles Clarke has taken the assassin's knife out of the sheath but appears unwilling to use it himself. Charles Clarke: he who wields the dagger never wears the crown As reported here yesterday, he has said in an article in the New Statesman that Labour is heading for 'utter destruction' and 'disaster'. This was a view widely held in the party and 'we' would not...

The EDP reports that attempts are being made by Labour to de-select Charles Clarke from his vulnerable Norwich South seat. The truth is though that Labour in Norwich larely like Charles Clarke. Despite seeming to spend a lot of time in London and not being seen by some as a constituency based MP, he gets on well with Labour activists, does all the right things, shakes the right hands, organises hi...

Charles Clarke said yesterday when launching his monthly attack on Gordon Brown, reminded people that Tony Blair had been an outstanding Prime Minister. Yet just a few months ago Mr Clarke was actually attacking Blair. Confused ? It appears to me that Charles Clarke does not like any prime Minister who won't give him a job or any government he is not part of. Sadly too, Mr Clarke does not app...

Neal Lawson's recent article, offering suggestions on how New Labour could rebuild its election winning coalition, has attracted some predictable flak. It is the classic 'Compass v Progress' debate, and I'm not convinced either have the answer.

The former Home Secretary's article in this week's New Statesman whipped up a storm, but what's the back story? I've been asked some interesting questions about the background to Charles Clarke's intervention in the New Statesman this week so it's only fair that I should share the answers with readers of this blog. 1. Did we solicit the article or did Charles Clarke c...

There are three predictable laws in Labour Party politics. Elections, Campaigns, and Charles Clarke sniping about Gordon Brown. Of which, although I disagree with what he says, he is more than entitled to do, but for the fact that he hardly represents a viable alternative given the circumstances of his departure as Home Secretary, that he has hardly been constructive or totally honest about the wh...