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POLLY Toynbee isn’t a very happy bunny these days, is she?

She expressed disappointment in Tony Blair about 20 minutes after he arrived in Downing Street, then carped on about how wonderful things would be if only Gordon Brown took over. Then, four and a half seconds after Gordon declared he would do his “outmost”, she was berating the party for not removing him.

No doubt encouraged by her consistency, the blessed organ for which she writes endorsed the LibDems in the run-up to the election, and Polly duly expressed unconvincing surprise that Clegg’s party agreed to prop up Cameron’s government.

And now she thinks it’s “disgraceful” that Tony Blair’s memoirs – one of the most hotly anticipated political books in my lifetime and a surefire best seller – has been published on the same day that ballot papers are issued in the interminable marathon that is the Labour leadership election.

So what? Does she expect Labour Party members suddenly to slap their brows and say: “Bloody hell! I just remembered something – that bloke off of the telly, Tony Blair, who’s got that book out – didn’t he used to be leader of the Labour Party? Well in that case I refuse to participate in this sham and will henceforth join the Stop The War Coalition and/or the LibDems…”?

Undoubtedly there are those, like Polly and others of the commentariat, who will never forgive Blair for Iraq. And no doubt there are many Labour Party members who feel the same way, though their vote is unlikely to be altered by the publication of a book.

But there are still many, many Labour Party members who remember Blair as an election-winning genius who, in office, was popular for an awful lot longer than he was unpopular. For those who want us to return to government sooner rather than later, Blair’s book will be a reminder that opposition doesn’t have to be permanent, and that great things can be accomplished by a Labour government, but only if we have a leader capable of appealing to voters beyond our own party’s core.

Meanwhile, be prepared for Polly to offer her full-throated support to the next Labour leader, whoever he is – for at least an hour and a half.