Jack Straw met with anti-Brown plotters

I am so shocked at The Mail story that

"Jack Straw was forced yesterday to admit having met MPs plotting to oust Gordon Brown amid damaging claims that he told colleagues the Prime Minister 'had to go'.

The Justice Secretary, who ran Mr Brown's leadership campaign in 2007, was accused of giving up on him by the middle of 2008 and of sounding out MPs about his own chances of seizing the top job.

According to Andrew Rawnsley's book, the veteran Cabinet minister held a series of talks with rebels planning a putsch against Mr Brown.

In a statement, 63-year- old Mr Straw said he was surprised that the claims had not been put to him in advance, given their seriousness, but admitted holding meetings with colleagues trying to force Mr Brown out."

Claims that Jack Straw has been devious and plotting; I am shocked. However I was also amused that Jack Straw claimed that

"In this period, unsurprisingly, a number of people came to me to talk about their concerns for the party... Some of these people wished to see a change of leadership. They have not made a secret of this, then or now. But it is untrue that I was " plotting to oust Gordon Brown" as The Observer has alleged.

So Jack Straw met Charles Clarke and Frank Field but wasn't canvassing for votes; well it's a possibility I suppose. However Andrew Rawnsley claims that

"over lunch with Charles Clarke, a long-standing critic of the Prime Minister, Mr Straw is alleged to have declared that Mr Brown 'had to go' and promised that 'something will be done'.

The Justice Secretary also gave a strong indication to former welfare minister Frank Field, another thorn in Mr Brown's side, that the Cabinet was preparing a coup.

The book adds that, in one private meeting, Mr Straw spent much of the time 'trying to find out whether Field would back him for the top job'."

Who to believe; Jack Straw or Andrew Rawnsley?