So we can relax. Al Gore’s not going to ruin it all and run.

His revelation brings an end to months of speculation that he was poised to rain on Hillary Clinton’s triumphal parade to the White House by announcing An Inconvenient Bid for the presidency himself.

It’s a wise move. Power inevitably means compromise, and the first time President Gore balked at calls for a punitive tax hike on gasoline or some similar act of political suicide, his hard-won climate credibility would sink like a soggy polar bear.

Assuming that he (sooner or later) endorses Hillary, he’ll have much more influence as a trusted but robustly independent advocate/adviser, with a (literally) unimpeachable reputation.

And that’s more likely to remain intact now that it’s clear he wasn’t seeking to float into the White House on the back of all those calving icebergs. It’s perhaps only a pity that, like Gordon Brown, he didn’t say ‘No’ sooner…