Conference blog: Gordon is safe – for now
The Prime Minister has just arrived in Manchester ahead of the Labour party conference, which begins tomorrow.
At the end of this turbulent week, it seems his position is safe.
Many had laughed off Harriet Harman’s repeated assertion that with ten years of Treasury experience, Gordon was the right man to see us through choppy waters.
To all appearances, she was right.
In the middle of this crisis, his actions to stabilise the markets and encourage a takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB have won him praise and the rebels everyone was talking about a week ago are suddenly old news.
He still has to give the speech of his life at conference, and there will still be fraught moments in Manchester over the next five days.
The resignation of David Cairns will play on the minds of delegates, and the enemies of the Prime Minister will use the event to plot against him.
Then there is the Glenrothes by-election in November.
But Gordon Brown can breathe a small sigh of relief as he settles into this hotel room in Manchester tonight.
The economic crisis has been temporarily calmed, and he now has that chance to put forward his pitch for the job he already has.
