The man with the clunking fist was a trusting sort – a lot of good it did him
• We cannot know what transpired between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in Granita. Who said what. Promises that may or may not have been made or kept. But now we know that even after the row it caused, Gordon Brown remained willing to organise his life on the basis of Tony's word. It makes you think quite kindly of him. For what will emerge tomorrow, in the latest of Michael Cockerell's revelatory behind-the-curtains-of-power documentaries, is a further deal the two Labour titans struck. The subject: how they would share the living accommodation at No 11 and No 10. During Cockerell's The Secret World of Whitehall, due to air on BBC4 on Wednesday, Jonathan Powell, Blair's chief-of-staff, said negotiations were tricky. "We had to persuade Gordon Brown to give up the No 11 flat and allow Tony and Cherie to live there which he did with difficulty," says Powell. "Gordon was very keen to preserve his space. I think he thought like Germany in the 19th century, we were going to gradually take over everything and there would be nothing left while we sorted Lebensraum in No 11." Things got worse when Leo Blair was born. "The Blair's needed another bedroom. We had to steal another room from Gordon. Gordon was very grumpy about this and insisted on a written letter saying he could have it back when Euan went to university. I always thought that was rather a nice thing, the concordat between the No 11 flat and the No 10 flat." Nice, but like the Granita meeting, totally to Blair's advantage. Gullible Gordon wasn't able to reclaim his space until he became PM.
• And the move of his one-time lieutenant and Downing Street spinner Damian McBride to the aid agency Cafod does appear to point towards a blossoming relationship between what was New Labour and the Catholic church. Confirmation of McBride's post followed the announcement that the former attorney general Patricia Scotland will chair the national Catholic safeguarding commission, which sets the strategic direction of church policies for children and vulnerable adults. Logic aplenty here, for the law is obviously her forte and Lady Scotland was never shy of mixing politics with theology. "I praise God for the fact that he blessed us with Gordon," she proclaimed in 2009, even as others on the good ship government were heading for the lifeboats. She then implored a sceptical crowd to chant amen.
• But was she praying for Charlie Whelan, that other leading player in the once popular New Labour soap opera? Obviously not. For with a little more help, Charlie – who spun for Gordon and then for the union Unite – would surely have fared better in the recent election for a place on the board of the Cairngorms national park authority. I want to give something back, said Charlie. No thanks, keep it, said those with a say in the matter. Charlie, who retired to fish and do good works, was a little too pro-development for the tastes of many. One of five potential candidates. He came fifth.
• The Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh's Royal Mile is cock-a-hoop after being booked for the 30 July marriage of Princess Anne's daughter, Zara Phillips, to rugby colossus Mike Tindall. Gongs and baubles all round? Not if you ask music students at Edinburgh's Stevenson College who would regularly hire the church for their concerts and recitals. The going rate last year was £75. Now it is £200. The students are negotiating with a local pub and hoping that the reception is held elsewhere.
• Finally, it's tough for some of the Lib Dems in government, now hostage to all sorts of things, notably Andrew Lansley's crazy plans for the NHS. Simon Hughes was pleased to attract unexpected support at a St Patrick's Day lunch in his London constituency. "A genial old Irishman patted me on the back and said: 'You're doing alright, Simon – you and the rest of the guys and girls just have to stay strong and determined.'" The anonymous well-wisher then ambled off in search of his third pint of Guinness. Still, chin up. Praise is a good thing – and right now they'll take it from anywhere. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.