Two pieces of seriously unsurprising news

The Mail reports the unsurprising news that Sky News political editor Adam Boulton says Mr Blair has a near contemptuous view of his successor's ability to bounce back and that Mr Blair believes Mr Brown may find an excuse to 'duck out' of the Election - which must take place by next June - possibly on health grounds.

I have rarely been so surprised by a piece of political news. But then came this from the same article; apparently

"Mr Boulton says: 'By propping up Mr Brown, Lord Mandelson has delayed the Election - and quite possibly facilitated the ratification of the treaty. This will doubtless endear him to EU leaders, who in turn might look all the more favourably on choosing Mr Blair as their president.'"

I am flabbergasted.

So Adam Boulton's years of political nous tell us that Tony Blair thinks that Gordon Brown is a political coward and that Peter Mandelson is more loyal to the EU than the UK; gosh!