Hoon finally goes...

So Geoff Hoon finally fell on his sword yesterday, but only because he tripped while legging it from other sword-wielding Labour party members.

The Ashfield MP’s official position was that he would stay on at the next election no matter what.

There had been rumours of him standing down, but ones I heard had been dependent on him finding a better job offer outside Parliament.

If that is the case his position would’ve been more: “I definitely won’t stand down, unless someone else decides to pay me a good wage, in which case I definitely will.”

So the question is what happened to bring the decision on now?

One answer is that he actually thought he would lose a vote of no confidence which his local party were planning to hold – he wanted to jump rather than be pushed.

But even if the party had passed the motion of no confidence – some think Hoon could have fought it off – the final decision on deselection would have rested with Labour’s governing body, the National Executive Council (NEC).

Word from the NEC is that it would not have been willing to push Hoon out this side of an election because it would have meant high-profile party division.

It could be, of course, that to save the party the embarrassment of the no confidence vote he simply decided to do “the right thing”.

But given the recent bungled leadership challenge, it would be fair to argue that saving his party embarrassment has not always been at the top of his agenda.

The other option is that he has indeed found another job – there has been speculation about Hoon being linked with a position at the Football League.

Whatever the answer, Labour has now lost one of its most divisive characters – and breathed a huge sigh of relief.