Is Gordon Brown on holiday or not? He's supposed to be on his last week off work but today he's meeting the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, in Downing Street. And he's been copping the flak for his failure to comment on the decision by the Scottish government to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. It might have helped if Brown had held over the letter of congrats to cricket captain Andrew Strauss until next week, coupled with that invitation to No 10. But that came yesterday. The contrast was bound to provoke criticism, and duly has.
But it turns out Brown's holiday is not quite over. Downing Street confirmed that the prime minister has snuck into the office today. He's no doubt considering the challenge ahead following a Guardian poll showing Labour has managed to slide down another two points during his leave period. He heads off back to Scotland for a couple of days before coming back to London on Friday, ready for his return back to work and the mother of all intrays. And justice secretary Jack Straw will hold the fort in between.
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