It was the last thing diehard Labour activists wanted voters
to see as the spotlight falls on the party in Manchester this
weekend - two of Labour’s best known veterans bickering on
Sunday morning television over whether Prime Minister Gordon
Brown should stay or go.

In fact, most of the party’s foot soldiers would much rather
those in power got on with trying to find ways to help families
get through what could turn into a nasty recession and pull
together to give Labour a fighting chance at the next election -
which has to be called by May 2010.

The trouble is that a verbal punch up between ex-Home Secretary
Charles Clarke and former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott
makes for great viewing on any given Sunday.

Prescott - who thinks Brown should be allowed to get on with the
job — once famously punched a dissenting punter and is equally
unforgiving with his tongue.
Clarke has fought his way back into the political limelight with
a consistent attack on Brown’s credentials in recent months.

“It’s just a distraction,” one union official said.

It may be. It certainly isn’t doing the Labour party any good in
the eyes of voters worried about how much it costs to heat their
homes and whether they are going to be in a job come Christmas.

But it is also a reminder of perhaps why Labour may not be able
to claw its way back when that election comes round.

Labour tore itself apart in the 1980s and the Conservatives did
the same in the 1990s, could it be that history is repeating
itself again.