By Denis Campbell

Talking heads are having a field day over recent Cabinet resignations, prospects for yet another huge Labour loss this weekend in the EU elections and calls by many in Parliament (even some Labour back-benchers) for a no-confidence vote and immediate elections. You have to wonder if the Prime Minister relishes getting out of bed in the morning or even dares leave town this weekend for the big D-Day commemoration, wondering what else can possibly go wrong? 

Gordon Brown had nearly pulled it off. He’d presented a stabilising portrait of a man firmly in charge, with a steady hand on the tiller of state, the financial crisis seemingly handled (Basil Fawlty sotto voce: “whatever you do, don’t mention the derivatives!”) and had even recently won a by-election.

And then The Telepgraph began this death of 1,000 cuts story three weeks ago, one that never ends about MP expenses. It has stolen all of the oxygen in the room from every other issue and enraged the electorate. Well at least the telly commentators have been telling us non-stop for weeks about how enraged we should be. The political world has thus been reduced to a simple American statement, “throw the bums out.”

Gordon cannot buy a break. From his former boss roundly criticising him last summer (and distancing his own tarnished legacy – oh the tricks W Bush could learn) last summer, to snarky young David Cameron nipping at his ankle like a bull terrier in heat, to huge local election losses, a near financial meltdown, crisis after crisis and he actually looked the part of strong leader direct from Central Casting when he hosted the world’s leader at the G-20. 

Now the expense row has him snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and if you thought the dour Scot looked angry before… all sharp objects have had to be removed from Number 10.

Now he has rats jumping ship (or were they pushed?) as even his attempt to conduct a methodical Cabinet shake-up after the expected poor election result  next week or was it a master stroke started before the bad result? all depends on which party SPIN doctor you listen to. 

So Labour is dying only to be replaced by The Conservatives, The Tories?!? (that must be a typo.) This nation ran away from Margaret Thatcher and John Major tough love conservatism in 1992 to the saviours in New Labour. Now they are ready to re-embrace them? My late afternoon coffee through the nose spit-take moment was when an ancient Labour Talking Head tried to SPIN the impending disaster saying Gordon had a plan and there was nothing to fear but fear, well you get the idea.

So down is up (Labour now has the woeful poll numbers) and an election most thought would be taken very seriously a year from now could happen at any moment. Problem is its all devolved into farce and one wonders how long it will take before we do have an election because folks are very tired of the status quo.

No Obama-like change here. Resume your lives citizens, nothing to see here.