Gordon Brown made sure that he was joined by at least one Blairite minister, John Hutton, when he announced his package to tackle fuel poverty on Wednesday. For one day at least, the Prime Minister looked like a man in charge of his own administration and the country.

Downing Street knew that the deal struck with the big energy utilities would not satisfy left-wing Labour MPs or the unions but in resisting their calls for a windfall tax Mr Brown could appear tough and claim to be acting in the long-term national interest.

Like a tiring boxer fought into a corner, however, in successfully defending himself from a jab from the Left he has found himself on the receiving end of a punch from the Right. The names of those calling, openly or in code, for a contest are almost all associated with the Blairite wing. Many are former ministers, some were sacked by Mr Brown when he became Prime Minister. A fair number represent seats in London and the South East where the current electoral calculus foreshadows the end of their parliamentary careers.

Mr Brown’s allies sought to characterise the group as a gaggle of the disaffected barely able to plot a graph, much less a coup. They even extract grim humour from the fact that it was Margaret McDonagh, as Labour’s general secretary under Tony Blair, who rewrote party rules to bolster the protection given to a sitting leader.

Even the most diehard do not pretend that yesterday’s events are not ominous, given that the Manchester gathering starts in just over a week. “It means that they are not prepared to back off him, give him space,” said one loyal friend. A formal challenge is almost certain not to happen. Instead, it appears that Mr Brown will be tormented from all sides of a party that cannot sack him but, increasingly, will not back him either.

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