ALISTAIR DARLING

Alistair Darling sat down with Gordon Brown shortly after 7pm on Thursday in no mood to compromise. For decades Mr Brown’s junior partner, the softly spoken Edinburgh lawyer was determined that, on this occasion, he would not be bundled to one side.

After days of reading that his days as Chancellor were over, it was time to hear the news from the Prime Minister directly. Calmly, he laid out why he wanted to stay at No 11. He was careful not to criticise Ed Balls, the man he knew Mr Brown wanted in his place. Instead, he took his old friend and ally through his plans for the next six months.

When the meeting broke up, the question of whether he would remain Chancellor was still unresolved. By 9.30pm — before James Purnell dropped his bombshell — Mr Darling’s aides were getting indications that Mr Balls believed that he had lost his bid for No 11. Confirmation came from Mr Brown at 9am yesterday.

Mr Darling, who knows that he is now unsackable, will take a quiet revenge on others he blames for fuelling the rumours.

ED BALLS

It has been a nerve-jangling week for Ed Balls. It may be as close as he ever comes to being Chancellor. From the moment he went to work for Gordon Brown in the mid-1990s it seemed to be his destiny. He was the man, after all, who wrote a pamphlet suggesting that the Bank of England should become independent.

When Mr Brown took over in 2007 his first instinct was to appoint Mr Balls as Chancellor but Alistair Darling, another friend of Mr Brown, came in instead.

On Thursday night Mr Balls was probably only a few hours away from getting the top job. More expenses revelations about Mr Darling last Monday made the prospect look even more realistic. But as he arrived in London from Yorkshire on Thursday night, James Purnell was just resigning, further damaging Mr Brown’s authority. Mr Brown could not afford a fight with his Chancellor who wanted to stay. Mr Balls, more than anyone, would also have seen the risks of the Chancellor walking out. In the end he had to accept what was right for Mr Brown. He remains as Schools Secretary.

DAVID MILIBAND

Striding across New Palace Yard in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening, David Miliband gave every appearance of a man on a mission. The dramatic resignation of Hazel Blears earlier had thrown into doubt the future of Gordon Brown’s administration.

If ever there was an opportunity for Labour’s young pretender, this was surely it.

A day later Mr Miliband found out, about three hours before Mr Brown, that his friend, James Purnell, was prepared to launch a full frontal attack on Mr Brown. He pondered whether he should follow suit. His calculations were clouded by an unhappy history. He has been pilloried in the past both for choosing not to challenge Mr Brown — when he decided not to stand against him two years ago — and for taking on the Prime Minister. His disastrously miscued leadership challenge last autumn wounds him still.

In the end he is likely to have been swayed by Lord Mandelson — the Business Secretary phoned him soon after the Purnell news, begging him not to follow suit.

CAROLINE FLINT

The Blairite MP for the Don Valley in South Yorkshire was one of the first Labour politicians to leap to the Prime Minister’s defence after the publication of James Purnell’s Cabinet resignation letter.

The Minister for Europe told the BBC on Thursday night: “I am staying in the Government. I am very proud to be part of Gordon Brown’s Government.”

It was interpreted widely as a gesture of loyalty, which she expected to be repaid within hours with a formal Cabinet position. However, after she was told that she would not be afforded a formal seat around the top table Ms Flint quit in a huff. She wrote her own letter, designed to draw blood, accusing Mr Brown of refusing to promote her properly because she is a woman.

“Few (women) are allowed into your inner circle. Several of the women attending Cabinet — myself included — have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing. I am not willing to attend Cabinet in a peripheral capacity any longer.”

JOHN HUTTON

For the Defence Secretary, there was no last-minute agonising. John Hutton’s decision to go, announced yesterday at 11am, was conveyed to Gordon Brown three weeks ago.

But despite potestations of support, his departure will still leave people wondering about his true motives.

For a while the Cabinet’s most aggressive Blairite, he once said that Brown would be a “f******” disaster" as Prime Minister.

And while he has felt that the Prime Minister has undoubted intellectual abilities, he feels he lacks the communication skills of Tony Blair and is doomed to lead the party to defeat at the next election.

So Mr Hutton’s decision to stand down undoubtedly reflects a sense in which he no longer is prepared to serve under Mr Brown.

Unlike James Purnell, however, Mr Hutton insisted on going without a fuss. He has long believed that forcing out Mr Brown would cause more harm than good at the election.

JAMES PURNELL

The man whose Labour career started as a teenager taking summer jobs working for Tony Blair began seriously to consider resigning from the Cabinet last week.

While James Purnell had been worried about whether Gordon Brown was corroding Labour’s electoral chances since last summer, his anxieties about Mr Brown became intolerable last week.

Alone — without taking the advice of friends such as David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, or Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary — the 39-year-old Work and Pensions Secretary came to a decision that is likely to change the direction of an entire career, one that has been devoted to new Labour.

By early Thursday evening, the deed had been done, and a letter written — on just one side of Secretary of State notepaper — seen as one of the most damaging parliamentary resignations in decades.

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