Brown’s great clunking fist holds a lesson in power-play for Cowen

In truth, the former chancellor’s depressed share price before he assumed the keys to No 10 was hugely to his advantage.

It has enabled him to confound (low) expectations, appearing more relaxed but also more nimble, unleashing a series of populist surprises upon his party and his opponents

I WAS at the British Labour Party’s annual conference in Bournemouth last week when the only question on delegates’ lips was: “will he or won’t he?”