Behind closed doors the Johnson team prepares
The Alan Johnson campaign is effectively now in place. People round him are all ready to go once, and if, Gordon Brown steps down.
Mr Johnson has quietly been meeting figures expected to play key roles in his operation, though he is keen to stress to every team member that he is certainly not plotting to get rid of Mr Brown, and does not want to be known as a plotter.
Frankly, Mr Johnson would be an idiot not to prepare. But just like Michael Heseltine in 1995, and Michael Howard in 2003, it is all hush hush, getting ready for what might happen.
No big team gatherings. Lots of one to one meetings. Nods, winks and understandings. Working out who would do what.
Nothing so crude as Michael Portillo installing phone lines in 1995. But let me assure you the Johnson campaign is now ready for someone to press the Go button.
Sources at Westminster confirm a key, pivotal figure is the Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe who ran Mr Johnson's campaign for deputy leader two years ago.
Mr Johnson and Mr Sutcliffe desperately want to avoid being seen to topple Mr Brown themselves.
But Sutcliffe is particularly curious as to whether a stalking horse might come forward, such as John McDonnell.
Mind you, Mr Sutcliffe may not be the best man for the job. One of Labour's most.
conspiratorial MPs, who is not a great fan of the PM, told me: "If Gerry Sutcliffe's organising it, Gordon Brown will survive!"
I'm Michael Crick, and I'm Newsnight's political editor. My guiding rule is that in any story there's usually something the politicians would prefer the world not to know. My job is to find that out. Follow me on
