The Wardman Wire

What is a vulture?

Vultures are scavenging birds, feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead animals

Converted to focus on the political arena:

Vultures are ex-ministers, who make a living feeding mostly on the carcasses of ex- (or nearly ex-) Prime Ministers.

But Tony McNulty says:

The vultures should clear off because there is no corpse around.

Then why are there vultures? Because they can smell dead meat. They can sense the dead and the near-dead. And they see it in Gordon Brown. They can smell that he is bleeding profusely from a deep wound inflcited on him by the electorate at the polls.

They are hovering over Brown in the sky, circling and curcling, waiting for the right moment to sweep in and add another minor wound to the multitude that he is already weakened by*.

The vultures will continue to circle until either their prey resigns and they get the chance to feast or it recovers enough for their efforts to be entirely ineffectual. However, neither of these appear imminent. Though with the man talked up as the heir-apparent pointedly refusing to rule out standing for the job, pressure will just continue to increase - unless Labour’s standing in the polls does.

As Matt Wardman points out, Brown’s position is “unassailable“. (Ahem.)

* I could list them here, but I have better things to do that write them all down, and I’m sure you have better things to do than to read such a long list.