Austin Mitchell on succession planning... "All this makes the strongest case for my proposed constitutional rule that for leaders, and particularly Prime Ministers, it should be eight years and then out. After that they're broken or barmy or both."

Mitchell also hits the target on wealth distribution: "The great handicap of the left is, because we have to give a little to a lot whereas the Tories give a lot to the few and everyone else hopes to benefit, there's no gratitude vote. People are better off but not much. They are all being pushed and worked harder. More jobs, but badly paid ones. The benefits of health and education improvement aren't widely realised because expectations rise with spending."