But the Tories are in an even worse ideological bind, because their argument has always been that Brown has been too socialist, too interventionist, and that the free market needed to be given more freedom.  So the political three card trick which Labour has to pull off (note the hasty dropping of the New Labour tag), is to trade on Brown's stature as a champion of the free market (within Labour) and allow him to carry out the greatest socialising of "the commanding heights of the economy" since Bevan and co. in the 1940's.

And having done so, Labour has to dump Brown - probably for a "fresh face" like Miliband, and say - "it wasn't us guv" and "we got rid of the old codger" and now we are going to do (what we have always claimed to do) and that is look after the little guy.  It's called re-branding, and given that, at that stage, the little guy will really be hurting, they may have some small chance of pulling it off.

However that's only because the Tories haven't demonstrated any great experience or competence either, have never been known to look after the little guy, and that their amalgam of tax cuts and Euroscepticism - whilst playing to the populist anti tax/Brussels sentiment - may not entirely provoke trust and credibility either.  But with the support of the MSM and the English middle class, they will probably pull it off.

No doubt they may claim they will renegotiate Britain's relationship with Europe - and if Lisbon hasn't been ratified by then, it won't be.  But I wish them luck - the EU may actually develop a backbone and tell them to go off and negotiate with someone else - something that could also happen to Ireland if it is seen as the ultimate reason for the failure of Lisbon.  Sarkozy may be no De Gaulle, but he might not be averse to replicating the old man's "Non" to any negotiation.

With Sterling in steep decline, we may also see Euroscepticism losing some of its popular appeal in Britain.  Burning bridges to Europe might not seem such a smart move in a time of crisis.  It will be interesting to see too what extent Obama prioritises relationships with the EU/GB, because the close Blair/Bush identification won't have helped Britain's "special relationship" with the US any in Democrat eyes.

An ignominious dumping of Brown by the English Middle class will also not go down well in Scotland and will revive calls for independence there.  A Cameron led Britain may have to be more concerned with keeping "Britain" "Great" rather than reshaping the EU.  It makes sense for Scotland to seek independence within the EU is that means securing its own cohesion/structural funding, Commissioner and representation in Council and Parliament.

We live in interesting times...

notes from no w here