Forget Night of the Long Knifes, this is Morning of the Plastic Spoons...

Alan Clarke's dairies tell of his abject fear of the Iron Lady's abilities to reshuffle her government. Eliminating those who challenged her and promoting those who'd suitably flattered her. Much the same can be said for Tony Blair, albeit watered down, eventually having to accept he couldn't simply fire Brown as he was so emphatically urged to do so.

This 'reshuffle' however is fundamentally different in one respect; the numbers.

Don't look, straight away, at who's entering the government but rather look at who's not leaving the government. This was billed as a radical reshuffle to reassert Gordon's authority. Instead,

• Peter Mandelson remains at Trade/Industry
• Alaister Darling remains at the Treasury
• David Miliband remains at the Foreign Office and
• Jack Straw remains at the Justice Department

The reason these haven't been moved? Not because they're doing an outstanding job (remember most of this week was spent as a distancing exercise from Alaister Darling) but rather the PM fears further turmoil, resignation and ultimately his demise.

Amidst all of this, there is surely one gleaming irony. Brown's frantic efforts to shore up his support has relied heavily upon the appointment of Sir Alan Sugar, soon to be Lord Sugar. (Does anyone remember Digby Jones? Cunt he may be but he effectively did the same job - then resigned) The same Alan Sugar who's been made famous for one phrase, 'You're fired'.