ET TU, TRICKETT?

A year is a pretty long time in politics and to be honest it seems a very long time ago that I heard Jon Trickett speak at the LRC Conference in London. I remember the speech for several reasons. 1. It was way too long. 2. It was therefore pretty tedious. 3. It was a vicious attack on Gordon Brown and New Labour . And 4..... one of my West Yorkshire LRC comrades actually heckled Trickett for coming out with this guff yet only months earlier nominating Brown for Leader.
At the time, I thought this a little embarrassing and maybe OTT as we were all, er, trying to build bridges. Well guess what "left-winger" Trickett, the man who quit Compass over 42 days , has been appointed as PPS to Gordon Brown. Yes, the very same Gordon Brown he denounced so strongly a year ago. Bit of a Damascene conversion, no?
I don't suppose I am surprised but it is a depressingly familiar tale in the PLP - and no, it's not Gordon creating a big tent. It's Gordon buying people off. So next time you see Trickett on a "left-wing" platform, feel free to heckle as loud as you like......I doubt we will be seeing him at this year's LRC Conference, though