Gordon Brown is doomed

If you had asked me a month ago  if Gordon Brown would still be prime minister until the next general election in twelve months' time, I would have replied yes, without any hesitation. Today, I can tell you that he will not survive and also this parliament will not last until May or June next year. 

There are only two main options for Labour MPs to mull over tonight. Continue with Gordon Brown and watch the government collapse even further into chaos. More ministerial resignations and more disastrous ratings in the opinion polls. They have already written off tomorrow and the public anger against this government shows no sign of abating. They know keeping Brown in No. 10 is electoral suicide. There really is no other option. He has to go.

The next problem for Labour MPs is how the public is going to react to another unelected prime minister. Constitutionally, we can flip prime ministers as often as Alastair Darling flips his second home, but politically it is impossible. When the Labour Party does decide who its new leader is going to be, a general election will have to be called. The electorate will accept nothing less.

One constitutional reform I would like to see is the direct election of prime ministers. We should elect the executive and parliament separately. This argument is for another day, however, it is one I will be making vociferously over the coming months, along with other issues including voting reform.