The Cabinet needs to get a grip and focus on doing their jobs. Even their colleagues are saying that they should be – Hazel Blears (aka “the Chipmunk”) and Douglas Alexander making their displeasure clear.

They want the Cabinet to stop in-fighting and jockeying for position over the Labour leadership when he becomes the global financial regulator . But the fact that they are fighting over who should be leader next shows that they understand that they’ve lost the next election – and presume that Gordon Brown will follow recent convention (set by the Tories, natch) and resign as leader if his party loses.

But would Brown resign if he lost? He waited thirteen years for the job, would he really resign after just a couple of years? Somehow I doubt by choice. Why is the contest so heated even before the general election has been called – and when it is unlikely to be so for at least a year? Because, like in student politics, the stakes are so small .

The Cabinet should focus on doing the jobs they have been given or quit.