Frank Field takes Lord Bonkers' advice

Frank Field has called on the Labour Party to pass on the opportunity of having Gordon Brown as its next leader. Writing in the Guardian this morning, he says:

The question then becomes not who is owed the leadership, but who by their very presence shouts at the electorate that New Labour has already moved on to the next stage of its life. Will that be best achieved by a candidate whose hands have been on the steering wheel for the last decade? Or will it come from the younger generation, in a candidate who is not linked in the public mind with what will soon be seen as stage one of New Labour's journey? Step forward, David Miliband.

Paul Linford takes a dim view of this:

The sad truth about Frank Field is that he is an embittered man who blames Brown for the failure of his welfare reform green paper in 1998 when he was challenged to "think the unthinkable," and for his subsequent sacking from the Government.

I hate to speak ill of a fellow Christian, but this article ought to ensure that the process of estrangement from the Labour Party, which has been going on ever since that abrupt dismissal, is now complete.

But he should not be so quick to condemn. Field is only following the counsel of Rutland's most famous peer.

Writing in September last year (see Saturday) Lord Bonkers said:

A word of advice to the New Party: if you do succeed in tipping Blair out of the window, don’t replace him with that dour Brown fellow. Try someone younger and fresher like Tony Benn’s charming daughter Hilary or one of the Millipede brothers.