The Times has an interesting piece today about how Gordon Brown is building up his own "policy platform" ahead of a possible leadership challenge against the prime minister.
The paper says that a new book - Brown's Britain by the FT's former political editor Robert Peston - says that the chancellor "is now convinced that he will become leader only if he rejects what Mr Blair stands for across a range of substantial policy areas".
It will be interesting to see whether Mr Brown - one of the three main architects of New Labour, along with Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson - does try and stake out a radically different position to the prime minister. He already has well publicised differences with Mr Blair over the limits of private sector involvement in public services and the advantages of joining the euro.
If you're interested in keeping up with this alternative manifesto-in-the-making, look out for the latest from the Smith Institute, the thinktank closest to the chancellor. It's run by one of Mr Brown's oldest friends Wilf Stevenson and has his closest adviser, Ed Balls, who had to leave the Treasury after being selected to fight a safe Labour seat, as a research fellow.
The new Labour party pressure group Compass is also seen as a part of Mr Brown's leadership campaign-in-waiting. It's run by another of his former advisers, Neal Lawson, and had the chancellor outline his vision of building a new "progressive consensus" at its conference in October.
