Seeking Brownie points

By BBC News Online's political correspondent Nick Assinder.

Just as the Tories were making real political headway on issues like law and order and pensions, Chancellor Gordon Brown has dusted down his Old Labour flag and branded Oxford University's admissions practices an "absolute scandal".

He seized on the Laura Spence affair to have a pop at what many see as the elitism still operating at the heart of the Oxbridge system.

It is a good, populist issue and has seen Labour regaining the political initiative.

But many were taken aback that Mr Brown should be speaking out on the issue - after all, that is what Education Secretary David Blunkett is supposed to be for.

Gordon Brown has plenty to smile about

While other ministers were delighted that they had finally got an issue that would strike a chord with voters and put the Tories on the defensive, they were openly speculating about what Mr Brown was really up to.

It's fairly obvious really. The Tories have been making all the running lately, most significantly on the pensions issue.

Mr Brown has been coming under concerted attack for the "insulting" 75p increase he handed out to pensioners this year and, for the first time, his image of invincibility has taken a hammering.

William Hague has promised big increases in the basic pension and many Labour backbenchers privately support the idea and wonder why their Chancellor has not done something similar already.

He may well do in the upcoming spending announcement, of course, but he rapidly needed to boost his image and gain some "Brownie points" with voters before his standing was permanently damaged.

It was all done with the prime minister's blessing and he will be delighted that the government is back on the offensive. But it may have worked a bit too well for Mr Blair's liking.

Mr Brown is eager to remind those voters who are disillusioned with New Labour that he still has some Old Labour blood in his veins - and what better than to attack the old establishment. But many suspect he also has darker motives.

While Tony Blair is on his brief paternity leave, Mr Brown's comments have also reminded Labour backbenchers that he is still an operator and could probably do the prime minister's job just as well as the incumbent.

So, while Mr Blair may well be smiling about the success of the operation, he may regret having given his arch rival such a powerful PR boost.

One that got away

Meanwhile, Mr Brown's former spin doctor Charlie Whelan has gone all Town and Country since he left Whitehall.

Charlie Whelan's fishy stories

Gone is the foul-mouthed, man of the people image to be replaced by the country squire.

Naturally, his latest pastime is fly fishing and he is eagerly going around telling anyone who will listen how he caught his first big fish.

He claims this happened while fishing in the river Wharfe in the Yorkshire Dales.

Unfortunately, like all good fishing stories, the picture of a proud Mr Whelan with his catch "didn't come out" so there is no documentary evidence to support his claim.

In any case, uncharitable colleagues are claiming that he actually bought the fish at the local trout farm next door to the pub in which he dined that evening.

He always could spin a good 'un.

Keeping Ken down?

Those unfortunate enough to have watched the first London mayor's question time may well be wondering what all the fuss about the appointment was in the first place.

There was "Red" Ken sitting at a table with a white cloth draped over it, facing the members of the GLA perched in a row in front of him behind similar tables.

As one onlooker said, it looked like a wedding reception without the booze or the bride.

And the whole thing was an utter shambles. Mr Livingstone had a massive sheaf of answers which had been prepared for him by his civil servants and carefully arranged in numerical order.

Unfortunately, Chairman Trevor Phillips did not call the questions in numerical order so the mayor was left desperately shuffling through his papers searching for his brief.

In the end it all had to be suspended until order could be imposed.

But it was little better when it re-started. It was unbelievably boring and made even parish council meetings look exciting.

Now some in Westminster smell a conspiracy and are suggesting officials, egged on by ministers, are deliberately trying to play the whole thing down so Mr Livingstone doesn't get too big for his boots.

I suspect it will take more than that to keep Ken down.

Winning ways

Ipswich MP Jamie Cann certainly knows how to win friends.

He has a habit of winning the Annie's Bar bonus ball draw every time it reaches big money.

Journalists, MPs and peers regularly spend a couple of quid of their hard earned cash betting on which number the Saturday lottery bonus ball will be.

The lucky winner usually pockets just enough money to buy a round of drinks, so everyone is happy. But not Mr Cann.

Every time there is a rollover and things get really exciting - with the pot sometimes getting into three figures - he wins it and makes a profit.

Last time around after a multiple rollover he walked away with £170. This so incensed the other regulars in Annie's that they drafted a Commons motion.

It deplored his habit of winning and insisted that all his current and future earnings from the bet should immediately be confiscated by the splendid barmaid and used for the benefit of all the drinkers in the bar.

The Early Day Motion was pinned up in Annie's but not everyone was told it was a joke - at the last count three backbenchers had actually signed it.

Vow of silence

Westminster watchers have been wondering why gaffe-prone minister Clare Short has been so well behaved of late.

When once she could be relied upon to speak her mind on any number of issues from cannabis to Ireland, she has been worryingly quiet of late.

Perhaps this is something to do with the fact that her new minder , sorry, adviser, is Dee Sullivan who previously worked for the gaffe-free, New Labour union moderniser John Monks - or Trappist Monks as he has been known for his habit of not criticising the government.

Double your money

Labour's new candidate in the safe seat of Tottenham, barrister David Lammy, is an ambitious young man - he could also be a very rich one if he chose.

David Lammy must stand down

He seems ready to put his name forward for any demanding job and just weeks before being selected to fight Tottenham, was elected to the new Greater London Assembly.

If he becomes an MP - and it would take a disaster to stop him - and continues to sit on the GLA, his joint earnings would amount to around £80,000 a year.

Sadly for him, he has been advised by Labour bosses that they do not expect him to hold a dual mandate and he should stand down from the GLA sooner rather than later.

It even looks like he will have to quit before the Tottenham by-election, on 22 June, raising the awkward, if hugely unlikely, prospect of him losing and ending up with no job at all.