Labour has never got its plot together enough for a coup

The story of the Labour party is full of plots that go nowhere.

- Philip Collins

Since 1990, the Tories have booted out Thatcher, Duncan Smith, May, Johnson and Truss. The last time Labour dispatched a leader was George Lansbury in 1935.

So the context in which Andy Burnham teases that he may, and yet may not, bid for the leadership is not exactly encouraging. The misery that has overtaken the party after an emphatic victory means the "Send for Burnham" mood is real.

It is all going to be great sport, because plotting is a Labour party pastime. The greatest of all its plots was when Herbert Morrison tried to replace Clement Attlee as leader on the very day of the 1945 landslide.