This is getting ridiculous now. One minute Charles Clarke is the great white hope, the next he's out of a job. Prescott being caught with his trousers down is strictly "a personal matter"; the next week he's been stripped of a large chunk of his responsibilities.

So: a difficult week, a knee-jerk reaction to scornful press coverage, or barely-contained bedlam - which is it, Tony?

Tony of course is a regular reader of this blog, so I'll let you know what he has to say for himself.

Let me take a minute to make a prediction. I think Tony's plan is to hold on until very close to the next election; this I think would benefit Labour because his successor - presumably Gordon Brown - wouldn't have had time to screw up yet. So, the thinking goes, the electorate would doubtless give Labour 'one last chance' of another term in office.

I used to, but I no longer think it's going to happen that way. There are too many things going on, too much brouhaha and sleaze(tm). Too much speculation about the handover of power. Tony's going to be pushed before he falls. And it's going to cost Labour dearly.