Exit Brown, Enter ...

At last after months of pushing, prodding and failed assassinations, Gordon Brown has announced he will resign as leader of the Labour Party.

The timing of this seems significant to me as any possible deal with the Liberal Democrats is said to require the resignation of Brown to attempt to stifle criticism of allying themselves with a failed government. Labour will argue that Brown’s resignation will be proof for the Lib Dems that they are serious with their promises.

Of course many pundits still think that Clegg is close to an agreement with Cameron. I would be very much surprised if this is true as Clegg will require the support of his party who generally despise the Tories. With Brown out of the way they will look to Labour to see if they can get a better deal.

So who is likely to succeed Brown as leader of the Labour Party, and possibly Prime Minister? Well David Miliband is a name that has always been thrown about when talking about Brown’s successor. He’s one of the more popular members of the party (which admittedly isn’t saying much) and is a lot more photogenic than Brown was.

Mandelson has also been suggested before, but I get the feeling that he prefers pulling the strings behind the scenes. Besides if Brown’s successor did succeed him as PM that would cause enough of a stink, but for him to be followed by someone who has not even been elected as an MP let alone PM would cause huge problems for the legitimacy of the government and precede a drubbing at the next General Election.

There are other names like Alan Johnson or Ed Miliband floating around but David Miliband seems like the most likely successor. Whoever takes charge will have to deal with a lot of public anger if the Lib Dems decide to form a coalition with Labour, thereby bringing in another unelected Prime Minister after an election for change. It took Brown just over a year to reach the spectacular lows of popularity with Michael Foot, but his successor may have to start with the setback of even lower popularity.