WHEN the cat’s away, the mice will play. Harriet Harman meant to leave nobody in doubt that she was running the country this week. As one of a roster of senior ministers taking it in turns to guard the fort while the PM tolerates his holiday, she took to the task with an alacrity which some saw as confirmation of her own longer-term ambitions. With aides hailing the event as the first time a woman has been at the helm of Government since Margaret Thatcher, Hattie not only summoned up a series of meetings with ministers at Number 10, but also had her family round for a tour of the new gaff. However, any dreams of putting the move on a more permanent basis were brutally shattered when Gordon Brown, who coldly denied her the job of Deputy Prime Minister, issued a statement emphatically declaring that he was in charge. It said: “Harriet Harman is one of a number of senior ministers available to deal with the day-to-day business of government. The Prime Minister remains in charge.” That would be a first.
