Black Tuesday: Did Jack Straw threaten to punch Ed Balls?

Times/Populus Poll: More than two thirds of voters (70 per cent) say that Britain is heading in the wrong direction. Mr Brown’s leader rating (on a 0 to 10 index) is down again, to 4.50 from 4.59 a month ago. This is lower than all but one month of Mr Blair’s leadership. Mr Brown’s rating among Labour voters has fallen sharply from 6.72 to 6.26.

Peter Riddell: The poll is particularly worrying for Gordon Brown himself. Only 5 per cent, and a mere 14 per cent of Labour voters, say that he has performed better than expected (against 21 and 30 per cent respectively last September). Mr Brown’s only hope is that the economic downturn will not be too severe or too long, so he can say “we have steered you through the storm without too much damage”. Mr Brown has lost the confidence of most voters.

Rachel Sylvester: "Political authority is like virginity. Once it is lost, you can't get it back. Gordon Brown is getting dangerously close to the point of no return. After one recent Cabinet meeting, Jack Straw threatened to punch Ed Balls during a row about who was responsible for youth crime. The Justice Secretary came back to his department fuming that he had never been spoken to so rudely by a colleague in public and that he was not going to put up with it."***

Plus suggestions, mentioned here yesterday, that the new head of the Labour Party who Gordon Brown went out of his way to put in place isn't joining after all, perhaps because he doesn't want to see his wealth liable for the party's huge debts...

And Brown's good news annoucement yesterday? News in Brief: Nurses and other NHS staff have been offered a three-year pay deal worth 8 per cent overall. The Royal College of Nursing and Unison welcomed the deal, while the response from the Royal College of Midwives was lukewarm. The British Medical Association described the offer as inadequate and as a “further slap in the face”.

***On today's stories of playground politics, the denials on this are coming thick, fast and especially furious. The threat wasn't to Balls' face, it seems. Both camps have identified the stormy meeting in question - in September, so not "recent". Ed Balls may deny, but how does he know what Jack Straw said when he got back to the Ministry of Justice. See the Brogometer for the denials, but the Guardian politics blog which is keeping the flame alive (unlike the French).
 

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Comments

[Mad Max]

Did Jack Straw threaten to punch Ed Balls?
So what! Or as Hansard records the recent PMQ exchange: "So weak". So who IS responsible for youth crime? We are as a society. Not the government.

[David Boothroyd]

Does 'Red Box' have to title every post with a question?

Are question headlines on posts just disguising unevidenced speculation?

Is there any unchallenged truth in any of these posts?

Will we all go bonkers if we have to read another post headlined with a question?

[Fati]

Straw and Balls are clearly both absolute plonkers, Labour spin and political correctness incarnate.

[Charlotte]

Fati - since when has threatening to punch someone been politically correct?!