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So Labour's Bonnie and Clyde failed to get their man: Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon were an unlikely pair of giant killers.
He has already wielded the knife against Tony Blair - to try to dispatch one leader is fine, two looks over-enthusiastic. Ms Hewitt is part of the Kinnock-era cabal who have never got on with Mr Brown. But neither had the heft to carry off a coup.
Still, these things leave their mark. The outstanding factor of the failed assassination was how long it took senior Cabinet figures to ride to Mr Brown's rescue.
The tone says it all. David Miliband practically announced his intention to run for leader after a Brown defeat by "working for a Labour victory". Alistair Darling gives the impression of a man busy with more important things, like arguing with Mr Brown over the handling of the deficit.
Parallels with the chaotic unwinding of the Major government are striking. Hoon and Hewitt's assault reveals Brown as a leader only grudgingly supported by his ranks.
The PM is in a struggle to the electoral death, with his own ranks only half-heartedly behind him.
