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So why all the fuss about what former Cabinet Secretary Lord Turnbull has had to say about Gordon Brown? Brown, according to the man who worked closely with him for four years, has a ‘very cynical view of mankind and his colleagues’ and regards other cabinet members with ‘more or less complete contempt’.

I say that comes as a huge relief. Hell, I could name two or three dozen bloggers, off the top of my head, who have built their reputations on exactly that interpretation of the New Labour cabinet over the last few years. It’s just nice to see that Gordon’s been part of the real world all this time.

The make-up of the Cabinet over the last ten years merely reflects the dearth of talent, first class minds and imagination in British politics. In turn, Brown’s attitude toward his colleagues is merely the reflection – the admission – of that. Not that he’s the intellectual titan of popular myth. Where’s the evidence, you have to ask? He’s like the moody kid at school whose brooding silence at the back of the class is mistaken for depth. He’s Judd Nelson in ‘The Breakfast Club’.

Brown’s attitude to government is a collision of two well known aphorisms, idioms or, if you prefer, clichés. Namely, ‘if you want a job doing well, do it yourself’ (aka the ‘Stalinist ruthlessness’ label Turnbull gives to Brown) and ‘you can’t polish a turd’.

I ask you, how much Brasso would it take to make a Jowell, a Hoon, a Falconer, a Prescott, a Hewitt, a Beckett or any of the rest, shine as ministers?