IT was the return of the great clunking fist. Gordon Brown only now seems to appear if it’s a dramatic last-minute intervention.

This man, a former PM and former Chancellor who is no longer an MP, can still command an audience. Yesterday Sky News and the BBC both broadcast his speech live. You can bet all of the leadership contenders were watching.

Rambling it may have been, and his incessant pacing made it difficult to watch without feeling a little sea-sick, and there was a lot of name dropping, but it was an intelligent and clever speech. What was striking was how wrong Brown got it about why people are backing Corbyn.

Those backing Corbyn want change.

That is why there is much resistance to Corbyn: he represents change. Kendall, Burnham and Cooper represent things as they are.

We are witnessing something unusual in the Labour Party. Who knows how it is going to end?