The government whips office is having an awayday today. But they must have been tempted to cancel when they heard a reporter on the Today programme just after 6.30am this morning predicting that there would be "a further resignation, or further resignations, today from among the parliamentary aides".
Well, the World at One is over, we're half way through the news cycle and, as far as I'm aware, no one else has resigned from the government (yet). For Gordon Brown, I suppose that's a result of sorts.
I called Siobhain McDonagh, (the leader of the "cashmere coup"), to see if she could tell me the name of anyone about to leave the government. "I really don't know, because it's not a concerted campaign," she replied.
I'm not personally aware of anyone who is about to resign. But I know there are lots of people who are considering their position. Clearly what happened last week may scare people off. Or it may give people the confidence to do something. And I don't know what impact conference is going to have. A lot of people regard it as a defining event when they can make up their mind.
So, will these resignations actually materialise? Talking to various Labour MPs, I've found 1) a total acceptance that there is concern about Brown's leadership, and that McDonagh and David Cairns aren't mavericks; 2) an inability (or unwillingness) to name anyone who's actually about to go; and 3) a recognition that it's all about timing.
And, on timing, one ministerial aide (who is not resigning) had several good explanations as to why other PPS wouldn't be resigning today – or in the immediate future - either.
On a day when there's an enormous economic crisis going on, isn't it going to look a bit self-indulgent if you go and resign in the midst of that? Some people may also be thinking that there's a reshuffle coming along soon, and that it might be worth hanging on for that. And some people may be thinking, now that we've had a minister of state resigning and that did not make much of a splash, what's the point of a PPS resigning?
Still, it's not all good news for Brown. In her column in the Evening Standard today, Anne McElvoy has a gruesome description of yesterday's cabinet meeting which she attributes to a minister who was present. He/She told McElvoy it was "excruciating, an embarrassment".
It's not just the country that's not listening to Gordon any longer: the cabinet isn't listening to him. Something is going to give. There were people staring at their hands, some scribbling on their papers, someone else on their BlackBerry … Gordon is now measuring his survival in two-week horizons. It's humiliating for everyone.
