Gordon Brown begins his fightback

Gordon Brown is unveiling his big fightback document, Building Britain's Future, intended to take Labour up to the next general election. But it is a future with some glaring black holes at the centre of it in the shape of Royal Mail privatisation and Trident.

The document will focus on improving public services with more "people power" over the delivery of services, including a series of entitlements which could allow individuals to take private health if the NHS is failing them. It will all be sold as radical, even Blairite stuff, despite the fact that much of it has been knocking around in one form or another for years.

It is designed to mark out some clear dividing lines with the Tories in the run-up to the election - suggesting Labour will spend more, or more likely cut less, and protect public services best -  but it will also be remarkable for those other policies which seem to have slipped off the current agenda.

Top of the list of policies the Prime Minister appears to have dropped is Royal Mail privatisation, which even Business Secretary Lord Mandelson - whose baby this was - now admits he may struggle to find time to get it onto the statute books.

As long predicted, and as already hinted at by Mandy himself in a series of softening-up interviews over recent weeks, the policy is, to all intents and purposes, off the pre-election agenda.  It is claimed this is primarily a result of the economic downturn which has made the task of finding private companies willing to buy into the operation hugely difficult.

The truth, needless to say, has far more to do with political survival, both Labour's and, specifically, Brown's. Any move to press ahead with the policy would have prompted a serious and potentially leadership-threatening backbench rebellion which was already brewing for the party conference in September.

And then there is the hugely divisive issue of Trident which is now firmly on the table. Senior military have backed those Labour voices claiming it is the wrong weapon for a changed international security scene and should not automatically be replaced. The Liberal Democrats have finally announced they will oppose its replacement and even the Tories are apparently divided over it.

Now it has emerged Brown is ready to re-visit the decision with a review of the programme which could see the current nuclear fleet's life extended. It would be a massive and potentially controversial decision, but it would also delight his backbenchers, particularly if such a defence review is announced at the party conference, which many expect.

So, while today's document may be about building Britain's future, the reality is the current Labour manifesto is all about shoring up Brown's future so he avoids the wrecking ball in September. ·