DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Plea to the plotters: just give it a rest

They say backbenchers are urging David Miliband and Alan Johnson to stand on a 'dream ticket' for the leadership - and that the Foreign Secretary is positioning himself for the kill.

They say 30 Labour MPs are prepared to write to the Prime Minister, telling him to stand down. 

Poisoned chalice: Foreign Secretary David Mililband would be foolish to succeed Gordon Brown and then get routed at the next election

They say hundreds of activists are trying to whip up support for a stalking-horse candidate to challenge him.

They say, they say, they say... Of course, we don't know who most of these conspirators are or how seriously they mean their threats.

In the feeding frenzy of the Westminster village, off-the-record briefings and coded newspaper articles are the staff of life - and rare indeed is the Labour malcontent who dares come out with a straight statement of intent.

But if there really is substance behind the rumours, don't the plotters need their heads examined?

True, many MPs are deeply unhappy with Mr Brown's leadership and terrified for their futures.

It would be strange if they weren't, given Labour's dire standing in the polls and its by-election drubbings.

But is this really the moment to launch a coup? Indeed, have the jabbering plotters even begun to think the matter through?

Take the idea of a Miliband/Johnson 'dream ticket' (what peculiar dreams they have in the Labour Party).

Now, our young Foreign Secretary undoubtedly shows promise - and his comments in today's Guardian suggest an overweening ambition.

But is he really fool enough to risk chucking his career away by volunteering to lead an unpopular party to an increasingly likely election defeat?

As for the other rumoured contenders - the Harriet 'this is my moment' Harmans or the washed-up Alan Milburns and Charles Clarkes - if they are the answer, isn't there something terribly wrong with the question?

What is certain is that replacing the tenant of Number 10 with someone less experienced won't make a blind bit of difference to the global credit crunch or the price of food and fuel.

No. With August only two days away, and the world's beaches beckoning, the Mail makes this heartfelt plea to the plotters: head for the seaside, switch off your mobiles and BlackBerrys - and for goodness' sake try to calm down.

There'll be plenty of time to mount your coups in the autumn!

Try to rejoice for BP

Nothing could be more understandable than the growing demands for a windfall tax on BP's mind-boggling £6.75billion profits, earned on the back of extortionate fuel prices. 

It offends our natural sense of justice that money is pouring into the company's coffers at £430 a second, while motorists and businesses stare ruin in the face. 

But shouldn't we be deeply wary of demanding a punitive tax? 

Yes, the Mail would be all for it - if we could be sure the money would go back to those hardest hit by soaring fuel prices.

But we know from bitter experience that it would simply be squandered on our swollen public sector or sucked into the black hole of government debt. 

Meanwhile, shouldn't we also remember that BP is already Britain's biggest corporate taxpayer - and that its dividends contribute £1 in every £10 to UK pension funds?

There may be mileage, perhaps, in the Tories' idea of a petrol price stabiliser - with tax cuts as oil prices rise and vice versa.

But until an equitable scheme is worked out, shouldn't we grit our teeth and try to rejoice that in these hard times, one British company at least is doing exceptionally well?