Tribunes of the people

It sounds ominous. The Tribune Group is to be re-formed. The old Tribune Group, once a political base for the likes of Michael Foot and Barbara Castle, had become so tired and amorphous by the 1990s that even Tony Blair could become a member of it. Now it is New Labour that is looking tired and amorphous. As one of new Tribunites, the MP Ian Davidson, says: "There is a problem about Labour's connection with voters when it loses four of the seven mayoral elections, one to a monkey and the other to a robocop. There is a mood in the party to open up debate and discussion after some of the wheezes from the top have gone so badly wrong."

Which would be very welcome. But we suspect that these 21st-century tribunes of the people may find the temptation simply to cause trouble for "Mr Tony" (as they call him) just a little too tempting.