It is not so much that you are surprised to hear that Gordon Brown is burying the hatchet by inviting old enemies such as Alan Milburn, Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson back into his inner circle. No, what surprises you is that Mr Brown’s desire to bury the hatchet with this legendary trio of Blairites — generally right between their shoulderblades — is what made them his enemies in the first place.

When Tony Blair reigned, it was the steady off-stage sniping by the likes of Mandelson, Milburn and Campbell about Brown’s talents and character that provoked his regularly slumping off to 11 Downing Street to spend more time with his grievances.

Of course, it’s possible that Brown is playing a long game. Why invite Mr Milburn to return to government to promote social mobility — after having lured Lord Mandelson back from Brussels to be Business Secretary, and reportedly cajoling Mr Campbell to take a peerage as a prelude to milking his magic as a general election strategist?

Maybe this is Mr Brown’s mischievous way of heeding Oscar Wilde’s advice to forgive your enemies, because nothing will annoy them more.

But, given his reputation for nursing grievances for approximately the same period of time that it took for Palaeozoic amoebas to evolve into manatees, maybe not. Your hunch is that Mr Brown’s calculation in re-embracing his Blairite adversaries is more likely to be along the lines of President Kennedy’s tip to smart politicians: make a point, Kennedy recommended, of forgiving your foes, but never forget their names.

A reluctant sense of pragmatism is the most likely explanation for Mr Brown’s sudden change of heart. With a general election to fight, and with his Chancellor, Alistair Darling, inspiring in voters the same confidence that they would feel if Dan Quayle were their phone-a-friend lifeline in a spelling bee, Brown might feel he is running out of options. He needs these men for victory.

Can you wait for the first happy-family photoopportunity of Brown, Mandelson, Milburn and Campbell together? Will it reveal the same strained smiles you see on those couples posing on their front doorstep after the husband has been caught by a Sunday tabloid spanking a hooker?

Maybe we should look at these developments in the same light as those 1960s rock bands who decide to forget the dressing-room differences that tore them apart and reform for one final stab at glory.

You know, like Led Zeppelin. Only in the case of Brown, Mandelson, Milburn and Campbell, maybe not singing Whole Lotta Love.

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