Charles Clarke - not as stupid as he looks

In The Telegraph Charles Clarke says some rather interesting things. The first line that struck me is not extraordinary, just a statement of fact -

"There is, however, a deep and widely shared concern - which does not derive from ideology - that Labour is destined to disaster if we go on as we are"

The extraordinary line is this one

"Mr Clarke said he would "not permit" the Prime Minister to lead the party to a catastrophic defeat."

Permit is an odd choice of word, does Charles Clarke control the Labour party to that extent?