Saturday is normally the quietest day of the week for news junkies. Not today. As Fraser Nelson says on Coffee House, it's all kicking off. Brown is gone, ladies and gentlemen. Not even this Cabinet of Cowardly Lions could brief so desperately against him and fail to strike.
The Telegraph talks of ministerial plots. The Times says the knifing will be after the summer holiday. The Guardian says the Cabinet want an "orderly resignation". Deals are being done between Purnell and Miliband. Jack Straw amuses Fraser Nelson, and me, with his desperate positioning to be caretaker leader. Alan Johnson may have something to say about that, Jack. Labour's all at it. Ferrets - meet sack.
Some choice quotes from a bunch of indisciplined, sloppy Cabinet ministers who don't care how badly they knife their own party in the press (hey, great whipping there Geoff Hoon!). "We're a no nation party - can't win in Scotland, can't win in England, can't win in Wales," said one to the Telegraph. Another brave Cabinet minister confidently said to John Kampfner that there wouldn't be a Labour meltdown - "I think you exaggerate," came the reply. "We should win at least 100 seats next time."
There's going to be a coup. It was all about momentum after Glasgow East, the hope being the recess would save Brown. Looks as though that is not happening
And I can't resist blowing my own trumpet just a tiny bit - in 2007, when Brown was at his zenith in the polls, and credit was easy to get, I predicted all this would happen.
In order, my look into the crystal ball forcast the following list of problems: 1. The credit crunch, 2. the end of his media honeymoon, 3. the rise of the SNP at Westminster level, 4. NHS cuts, 5. Spending squeeze, 6. the EU Constitution, 7. Lawless Britain, 8. Immigration, 9.Education and general Labour decline. In the summer of the SATs fiasco, the arrival of the forecast credit crunch, Glasgow East, the Irish 'No', knife crime and a hostile press I make that 7 out of 9 that are right at the top of today's news agenda.
So do we want a General Election?
Yes please.
Conventional wisdom advises the Tories to wait, let Labour take the economic hit and Brown ensure David has a majority of 200 plus. I do not agree; we neither want nor need to wait. Whilst a new Labour leader might get a recovery in the polls, the General Election campaign will see David Cameron and the Shadow Cabinet front and centrer in the media for weeks. They will contrast so well with tired, raddled, indisciplined, exhausted Labour who have lost both the will to govern and the plot. Our PPCs are longing to join battle. The whole nation is sick of Labour. We will win convincingly.
Second, can we afford any more Labour government? Can we afford two years of Brown's reckless economic policy, of borrowing 2.7 billion pounds to get out of the 10p tax rate? Can we afford endless rises in national debt with no reduction in the state, even on wasteful IT projects? Can we ask our soldiers to spend another two years in the field without adequate equipment? Can we sit by while the rest of the Post Office network disappears?
In policy area after policy area, "scorched earth" will be in full effect. Yes, Brown has plunged us into economic crisis. But I am convinced George Osborne is the man to deal with it. We can't take another two years of Labour. It's time for change. Get ready for a General Election. The country needs one.