“OZ HIMSELF is the Great Wizard,” answered the Witch, sinking her voice to a whisper. “He is more powerful than all the rest of us together. He lives in the City of Emeralds.”

Dorothy, thou should’st be living at this hour. Today the imagination of the British political and media class is stalked by a new Oz. Next week we will be off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz — in Brighton where at Labour’s conference, in what his courtiers hope will be one of his last appearances as a mere Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown (for it is he) will point the way.

Or will he? What are we to make of the Wizard of Dunfermline East? What can we expect from Mr Brown at No 10? He is a retiring fellow, this modern Oz — but then so was his Emerald City namesake . . .

“Does he never go out?” asked the Scarecrow.

“Never. He sits day after day in the great Throne Room of his Palace, and even those who wait upon him do not see him face to face.”

Likewise the Oz de nos jours. We are told he does not care to travel. At times of national difficulty, when our present leader, the delusional Kim Il Blair, zooms from grandstand to grandstand, the habit of Oz has been to stay put. He retreats into massive silences for weeks — even months — leaving us unable to do more than guess at his opinions or plans. Some say he is sulking. Some say he is thinking.

Some say he feels our pain. Some say he is brutal. Some say he is sensitive. Some say he is thoughtful. Some say he is just grumpy. Some say he is no good with people. Some say he is a charming and ruthless manipulator.

And everybody guesses. Our speculations upon the mind, the plans and the nature of Oz are as various as are the people doing the guessing. Each commentator has his or her personal version of Oz; but from Oz himself — a thunderous silence.

So which version of the Wizard is right? Martin Kettle in The Guardian found him “an elusive personality”, “he is sociable but also shy”. Peter Lilley, MP, gained a different impression: “He can brighten a room just by leaving it,” he said. “Relaxed, deft and witty,” reported Godfrey Barker in The Daily Telegraph. “He can positively radiate gloom,” said Mr Lilley.

And what will he do when he becomes Prime Minister? Polly Toynbee in The Guardian has asked that question of people confident they know. “Talk to Brownites, and this is their promise: Labour will get its values back. He can restore trust and honour, make people believe again that politics can make a difference.” He will give Labour the heart it is looking for.

And the brains, too. “He is exceptionally open to new ideas,” wrote Mr Kettle once, “and thrives on intellectual discussion.”

With Mr Brown, “ideas” (say Ms Toynbee’s interviewees) “must come first . . . With (his reasoned explanation the public will support radicalism . . . Everything his government does will shape a public idea of progressive purpose.”

There is a prevailing view on the Left that the Wizard of Dunfermline East will take us back to the purposes and the prescriptions of “old” Labour.Which is odd, because on these pages Anatole Kaletsky has seen a rather different wizard: “. . . His determined resistance to European tax harmonisation, and even his personal predilection for holidays in America rather than Europe, suggest a preference for US-style free enterprise rather than the European social market model. Brown appears to be positioned well to the right of Blair.”

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