Did Tony Blair ever really go away? When David Miliband launched his not-so-coded attempt to unseat Gordon Brown with his explosive article in the Guardian last week, people wondered whether the Foreign Secretary was acting alone or was backed by other revolting Blairites.

We now have the answer to that question. Yesterday, a memo written by Tony Blair piling ordure on Brown’s premiership surfaced in the Mail on Sunday. Reportedly written just after last year’s party conferences, it has been leaked now for one reason alone: to aid David Miliband’s lunge for power.

Miliband was always the former Prime Minister’s favourite political son  -  the anointed heir to the Blairite dynasty.

Now, amid reports that Blair has been holding regular talks with Miliband, another of his leading acolytes, Stephen Byers, has also popped up to denounce Brown’s policies as inadequate for the challenges facing Labour.

While we don’t know who made the Blair missive available, its publication sensationally ups the stakes. This is a Blairite plot.

Revenge, it might be said, is a dish best served in a cold memorandum. It was Brown who orchestrated the destabilisation campaign against Blair which forced him out of Number Ten.

Now it’s payback time for the beleaguered Prime Minister with a dose of his own brutal medicine from the Blairites  -  and with the opinion polls suggesting that the Government would leap ten points if Blair were still in charge. Ouch.

But as I wrote here last week, anyone who thinks that Miliband  -  or any other leader, for that matter  -  will solve Labour’s problems must be living in la-la-land.

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