I'll give Clarke another shot when I beat Cameron...

First it was Blair having a dig at Ken Clarke, and now Labour leadership contender David Miliband has a go too.

Speaking with Lobbydog, the shadow foreign secretary dropped the following comment into the conversation.

"It seems Ken Clarke wasn't good enough for the Tories in the past, but if I become leader and knock out Cameron then maybe he can try his luck again."

Cheeky, and yet bold. It fits in with the rather silly spin war being waged between David and his brother Ed over who is more positive about winning the leadership.

Both have been putting out statements saying they are “increasingly confident” of victory. But I suppose here David takes it to the next level, saying as he does that he will not only win the leadership, but that he'll beat the PM too.

Big Beast gets his claws out for Blair

Ken Clarke isn’t the sort to let a challenge pass without saying something.

So when I read in Tony Blair’s memoirs that the former PM claimed to have whipped Clarke in debates over crime back in the 90s, I knew there would be come-back.

Then in The Telegraph on Monday Blair had another swing – this time at the Justice Secretary’s prisons policy.

Blair said he “abhors” Clarke’s suggestion that money might be saved by locking up fewer people and focusing on rehabilitation.

Talking exclusively to Lobbydog Clarke said: “Frankly I was unimpressed and I flatly reject his criticism.

“I actually think he’s had a hard time of things recently and he’s become a very unpopular figure and he was trying to say something to avoid talking about Iraq and also to create controversy about his book.”

The pair sparred in the House of Commons when Clarke was Home Secretary in John Major’s government and Blair was Labour’s home affairs spokesman.

Clarke added: “Tony was my shadow back then in the early 90s and was left dealing with crime issues. He was good at slogans but never came up with any policy.

“‘Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ was his famous one. But to be honest I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t agree with that – it was like many of Tony’s slogans, a platitude.”

You can read the full story in tomorrow’s Nottingham Post, I’ll link in from Lobbydog too.

Patronising Pat strikes again...

I rather enjoyed this little passage from A Journey about Blair letting Pat Hewitt talk at cabinet just to annoy John Prescott.

He wrote of Prescott: “He was definitely old fashioned and not great at working with a certain type of middle class woman, and though sound on the policy of gay rights was led more by his head than his heart.”

Mr Blair continues, telling how at cabinet Mr Prescott would sit “like a grumbling volcano ready to erupt” often because of one of the women that had spoken up.

He writes: “Patricia Hewitt was sure to get him going. She was in fact a really good minister and was excellent at the Department of Health, taking truly difficult decisions with immense determination, but at cabinet she would usually raise the women’s angle.

“John would make some slightly off colour remark if he was in a sour mood. I would then bring her in again just for the sheer entertainment of watching him explode.

“She would patronise him in the most wonderfully insensitive fashion: ‘Now John, that’s a very, very good point you’ve just made, and it’s always so worth listening to you.’”

You can actually hear Hewitt’s voice in your head when you read that last bit. Freakish.

Who are you and what have you done with Mandy?

Has Peter Mandelson’s book actually been written by Peter Mandelson? From the stuff put in The Times so far this week I’m not so sure

It seems to be lacking a certain cutting edge and wit, an arrogance perhaps – whatever that thing is that makes Mandy able to be smarmy and endearing at the same time.

And if it’s not smarmy and it has no wit then what does it have – there are no revelations in telling us again that Gordon Brown is a bit of an oddball, which seems to have been the thrust so far.

Today’s offering, that Brown hated Blair and wanted him to leave Number 10, left an air of irrelevance around the whole memoir.

Surely there must be some more up to date morsels in there which The Times can share – perhaps about how the Milibands pull each other’s hair when they argue or how Ed Balls sleeps with his eyes open or something.

Gordon's jaw, floating like a jellyfish

Cameron and Blair

Here is Cameron answering questions on Tony Blair and the EU presidency at his press conference today.

He says he’d rather have someone who was more of a chairman than the “all singing, all dancing” president that Blair would be.

But Bagehot asks whether Cameron really thinks Britain's interests in Europe would be better served by a foreign president than by Blair.

Given that it seems we are going to have a president now, I’d say it’s a question that needs answering.

For example, surely Cameron would have a better chance of sorting out the Common Agricultural Policy with Blair in position.

Admittedly Blair would have only got the presidency with CAP-loving France’s backing, but having a Brit there has to count for something. Doesn’t it?

Cherie Blair to be played by witch actress

I’ve seen on Twitter that Michael Sheen is going to play Tony Blair again in a new film, The Special Relationship.

It’s going to be about the rapport between Blair and Clinton, who will be played by Dennis Quaid.

Meanwhile, Cherie Blair is going to be played Helen McCrory.

An interesting choice as McCrory’s acting experience includes playing the evil old witch Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films (right). Say no more.

Gordon Brown is also in the movie and played by Chris Wilson, whose past roles include a police officer, a prison officer and a traffic warden.

Make of that what you will.

Chilcot's track record

I’m a little uneasy about the launch of the Iraq War Inquiry – Sir John Chilcot will set out his terms of reference later on.

It’s one of those issues which, on the face of it, is clear cut.

The inquiry should be open, witnesses should be under oath, only evidence that is a grave threat to national security should be heard in private and anyone who is relevant, including Tony Blair, should be questioned.

Unfortunately there is too much politics involved, and too much at stake for all of that to go smoothly.

Much of what happens will depend on Sir John, who also sat on the Butler Inquiry, which was lenient with Blair’s Government over the use of intelligence in the run up to war.

War criminal?

An MP I was chatting to earlier said he’d wanted to call Tony Blair a “war criminal” during the Iraq War Inquiry debate today.

When he ran the idea past the Commons authorities they said he may not make it to the end of his speech if he did.

The English language was "rich enough" to say what he wanted to say, they informed him, without using words which were likely to cause a "sharp intake of breath."

UPDATE 25/06/09: Just in case you hadn't worked it out, the MP was Alan Simpson and he worked out a way to say what he wanted quite well.