That a week is a long time in politics is one of those wise sayings which usually turns out to be untrue. Not now. All those articles written only a couple of weeks ago and giving entirely good reasons why Gordon Brown was on top and David Cameron on the ropes now look faintly embarrassing. But at the beginning of October Brown was on top and no one can be faulted for failing to see his impending humiliation. Nor could they have predicted that the abandonment of a premature general election would lead directly to the resignation of Menzies Campbell as Liberal Democrat leader, even though his position had for some time been uncertain. Yet little more than a week later, Brown is on the ropes, Cameron on top and Campbell has gone.

LRB 1 November 2007 | PDF Download