The news that the prime minister may give up life as a Westminster MP when he stands down at the next election, and pass on his seat in the north-east, will have Labour insiders licking their lips.
The Sedgefield constituency, represented for the past 22 years by one T Blair, would be one of the juiciest plums in the Labour larder, if indeed it is up for grabs - though No 10 says the incumbent hasn't "given any thought" to stepping down.
Although the job of representing the seat is of course in the gift of the voters, its rock-solid 18,000 plus Labour majority in effect makes it a seat for life for any wannabe Labour MP.
Even this year, when Mr Blair was challenged by an anti-war protester who had lost a son in Iraq (and by 13 other candidates, attracted by the media circus that always accompanies the leader's seat in a general election), the seat returned its Labour candidate with a majority of 18,457 - not badly down on the 1997 high water mark of 25,000.
Not only is it one of the most beautiful parts of England - offering easy access from London on the east coast mainline - but in Labour's north-east heartlands, it's also surrounded by cabinet heavyweights and New Labour stars such as David Miliband (South Shields), Alan Milburn (Darlington), Stephen Byers (Tyneside North).
Former Blair aide and lobbyist Phil Wilson, once the constituency's membership secretary, has already been linked with the job, although Number 10 special advisor Patrick Diamond (who knows the area well from working for ex-Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson) and Neal Lawson, the Brownite editor of Labour journal Renewal and chair of the left-ish New Labour thinktank Compass, may also fancy throwing their hats in the ring.
