Alistair Darling: whatever happened to Mr Nice Guy?

Although Alistair Darling's memoirs are not due to be published until next Wednesday, leaked extracts are already causing a stir. In the snippets that have surfaced so far, the former Labour chancellor, normally known for his mild-mannered public image, doesn't pull his punches.

Commentators suspect his forthcoming reflections will ruffle many feathers.
 
Darling seems to have stored up his irritation towards some of his former colleagues for his memoirs, says George Parker in the Financial Times. The leaked extracts direct scorn towards Gordon Brown, whose management style was "brutal and volcanic".  They also also record his "prickly and strained" with relationship with the "stubborn and exasperating" Bank of England governor Mervyn King, as the regulatory system buckled during the banking crisis.

Yes, there is all the delicious detail of "a volcanic" Gordon Brown, but what will resonate most with the public are Darling's comments on "arrogant and stupid City bankers", says the Independent in an editorial.

As talk has turned to banking reforms, bankers are again "trotting out the old combination of dangling carrots and waving sticks". They argue banks must not be regulated when the economy is booming and cannot be reformed when it is suffering. "It is not hard to see what Alistair Darling means about arrogance and a lack of gratitude for the taxpayer bailout."

Darling's memoirs will also reignite claims of deep divisions within the Labour party, predicts Nicola Bradshaw on politicsontoast.com. The rivalry between Blairites and Brownites is discussed throughout the memoirs.

Darling's memoirs have already been seized upon by Tories such as Sayeeda Warsi keen to put the boot into Labour. As Bradshaw observes, they’re bound to make "excellent bedtime reading" not only for Labour ministers but for Conservatives and Lib Dems too.

Or great bedtime reading for insomniacs, suggests Anna White in the Daily Telegraph. White says she doesn't want to spoil the no-doubt "riveting" book launch party, "but please remember this is the man who part authored and wholly delivered a budget that was branded the most boring of all time. And that was up against some bored stiff competition." ·