Plot fails, but at what cost? 8 in the morning – January 7th

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

* GORDON BROWN “THE FINAL MUTINY” yesterday. Patrick Wintour at the Guardian tells the story of how he did it, including the revelation that the Number 10 operation “tried to flush out enemies by briefing that Tessa Jowell, the Cabinet Office minister, was set to quit.”

* THE COUP HAD SERIOUS PLANNING, says the Indepenent Leader, but was also a drastic electoral gamble.

* THE CABINET EVENTUALLY RALLIED AROUND THE PM, but “damned him with faint praise”, according to the Times.

* PETER MANDELSON AGAIN SAVED THE PM, not for his own sake, but for the survival of New Labour, writes Ben Brogan.

* TALK OF THE LABOUR LEADERSHIP will inevitably continue this week – and the Guardian has all the odds and likely scenarios.

* A NEW POLL, taken before yesterday’s developments, shows Labour had been making slight ground, with a one point rise to 31% as compared with the Tories on 40%.

* BUT THE SNOWSTORM PLOT IS A MASSIVE BOOST FOR TORIES, says ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie.

* AND AS AS ALASTAIR CAMPBELL WRITES ABOUT YESTERDAY’S “DISASTER”, John Prescott says Hoon, Hewitt, Clarke and other “Bitterites” should all face secret ballots themselves: