Martha Kearney's week

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By Martha Kearney Presenter, BBC Radio 4's World at One

"Bonkers!" That was what one minister shouted at me across central lobby in the Commons when I asked for his view on the Snowstorm Plot.

So what were Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt thinking of? The former health secretary gave her first interview to The World At One shortly after the joint letter calling for a secret ballot was made public.

The Hoon-Hewitt plan failed to gather much open support among MPs

She told me the vote among Labour MPs could be held next Monday, with the results declared at the scheduled meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party that evening.

She said that "this division, the public attacks on Gordon from some of our colleagues, and the private mutterings have got to come to an end. Even the strongest supporters of the prime minister ought to be supporting this call".

But it soon became apparent that barely anybody would be doing so.

'Hell-bent division'

Labour MP Frank Cook told one of our producers: "The whole thing is insane. There was no justifiable reason to choose Wednesday for a coup after Gordon had wiped the floor with his opponent at prime minister's questions.

"This coterie of characters are so keen to enhance their own image that they just have no balanced appreciation of coup politics. There is not the hell-bent division that Charles Clarke has been trying to whip up.

"The coup which unseated Thatcher was disciplined and marshalled and executed with decency. These so-called coup attempts are no more than characters who have an exaggerated opinion of their status and think they can carry a mob behind them."

The foreign secretary took six hours to deliver a statement - and that was lukewarm in tone <a class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8443769.stm">Ministers lining up behind Brown</a> <a class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8445464.stm">Plot is 'storm in teacup' - Brown</a> <a class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8444684.stm">Clockwatch: Cabinet backs Brown</a>

But those close to the plotters say that they did it because they thought they had a lot of people behind them.

According to one senior MP at the heart of the attempted coup, a majority of the cabinet was considering action but in the end decided that "overwhelming force" was needed to topple Mr Brown because of his determination to hang on.

We have also been told that the offices of Lord Mandelson, Harriet Harman and David Miliband were in contact throughout the afternoon.

'Getting stuck in'

That may explain why the foreign secretary took six hours to deliver a statement - and that was lukewarm in tone. On Thursday Mr Miliband beefed that up. But note - there was no ringing endorsement of the prime minister.

"I spent yesterday, like other members of government, on the business of government. Today, we're getting on with the business of government.

"We've got an election to fight. Gordon is leading us into it. We're determined to win it under his leadership. And I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it."

Mr Miliband has been touted as a future Labour leader

One of his cabinet colleagues told me that Mr Miliband should have made that statement on Wednesday.

The equivocation has cost the foreign secretary support. We talked to one backbencher who said that if he and Mr Brown were on a Tube platform together, then the prime minister should look out.

He was angry that no member of the cabinet had had the courage to step forward.

He told us: " David Miliband has had four opportunities to unseat Brown and now has no credibility left. Post-election Miliband will probably stand but I won't back him."

Mr Hewitt and Mr Hoon have been left somewhat battered by the experience.

The leader of Mr Hoon's district council in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, John Knight, told us: "I was shocked and disappointed.

"I think that's probably a universal feeling of the ordinary Labour members in Ashfield. I think it would be true to say I was somewhat disappointed in what he'd done because, if Geoff had any kind of reservations about Gordon Brown's leadership, he'd certainly not made them known to anybody in the constituency association."

So where does this leave the Labour Party?

"With scar tissue but at least it's over," according to one minister.

Another senior figure in the government told me that the indirect effect would be more collective leadership. In other words, less power for Ed Balls. Battles between him and Lord Mandelson have been destabilising the cabinet.

One of our listeners had a different suggestion for the future of the government: "Having heard Gordon Brown described as 'a man of grit' on your programme, I just wonder whether we should be spreading him on our frozen roads."

Now that would be a Snowstorm Plot.