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It did not take long for the afterglow of Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour conference to be overshadowed by events.
The resignation of the Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, before the Cabinet reshuffle is, she says, for family reasons.
The Prime Minister, in an interview today, declared that her departure had nothing to do with politics and that she remained “a fan”.
Yet few observers will fail to read a political significance into her departure. Was it an attempt by Miss Kelly, reportedly a supporter of David Miliband, to free herself to enter a leadership debate? Was it a case of jumping before being pushed? Whatever the reason, the upshot is that there is, again, intense speculation about Gordon Brown's leadership.
Miss Kelly will be missed from government. She has been an able and intelligent minister. If her stance on the highly contentious Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill did not win her many friends in Labour, it was entirely consistent with her willingness to act on principle. We shall see whether she will now support the rebels.
Certainly, Mr Brown's speech, personal and combative as it was, has not killed the speculation about how long he will last.
Rather, he has been helped by the relative underperformance of David Miliband. The Foreign Secretary's speech was not so much defective in substance as in the want of compelling charisma in the way it was delivered.
Mr Brown is in New York this week to address the UN. Engaging in high level international politics may be more congenial than addressing concerns about the domestic economy but it is not going to alter his standing.
Back home, interest now shifts to how the Cabinet reshuffle will affect the Prime Minister's prospects. Following Kelly's resignation, it seems likely to involve middle-ranking ministers, such as the favoured Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne, rather than those at the top. But no matter how he shuffles his deck, his chances of winning the public's confidence remain in doubt.
Garden grab
A STREET in East Sheen has been turfed over in an eye-catching protest at one of the most hated features of the property boom years.
“Garden grabbing” is the trend for developers to buy up family homes with large gardens and replace them with smaller houses or blocks of flats built right up to the edges of the plot. That removes greenery and wildlife, destroys children's play space and crams cars, buildings and people into areas where roads and other infrastructure may be inadequate.
Not everyone can afford homes built for large Edwardian families. However, the balance between providing new homes and protecting quality of life and the character of existing residential areas was badly distorted in planning guidelines overseen by John Prescott in 2000. These allowed gardens to be defined as “previously developed sites”.
Planning rules that were meant to encourage the re-use of genuinely brownfield, former industrial land were instead exploited by developers to get permission to build in attractive suburban roads and avenues. It was listening to voters' worries about issues like this that helped Boris Johnson win power.
Instead of reiterating the Government's implausible promise to build three million new homes by 2020, Labour's housing minister Caroline Flint needs to tackle issues such as garden grabbing.
Autumn blaze
THE CITY may be taking a beating but the arts are showing that there is plenty of vitality in London. This month has seen Chekhov's Ivanov at Wyndham's defying reports of the death of the West End straight play. On Friday the Tate Modern's Mark Rothko exhibition opens. This weekend sees the start of the opening season at the new King's Place concert hall near King's Cross. Even amid the economic gloom there is much inspiration and innovation here. We hope it lifts the capital's spirits.
