This cannot go on

I said yesterday that it was madness that some senior people were continuing the feud and undermining our most likely next leader.

It just goes on.

But then Charles Clarke - for whom I had a lot of time when he was a Minister - was less than helpful during the Blaenau Gwent by-election. The Times says today:

it is well known that Mr Clarke has difficulty keeping impulsive thoughts to himself.

The Guardian says:

it is hard to explain, let alone justify, his intemperate and explicit outburst in an interview given only hours after a fragile peace had been declared, attacking Mr Brown's conduct over the past week.

I don't normally take much notice of the Daily Mail, but this sounded plausible:

With rumours and accusations swirling at Westminster, Peter Mandelson was said to be in London organising the resistance to Mr Brown's march towards Number 10.

Mr Blair's forced admission on Thursday that he will be out of office within a year has infuriated his most loyal supporters, who blame Mr Brown for a crisis that has engulfed the party.

They are now determined to undermine his claim to the Labour crown by raising doubts about his character and his ability to unite the party.

There are only two options before us. Either people shut up - or we have a leadership election.

At the moment we have the worst of all worlds - an interminable and destructive proxy leadership contest without the election itself having been called.