Labour's Final Days ?

I'm not sure I completely believe the polls, but if true they are tremendous news. Their glory is that electorally Tony Blair has always been Labour's greatest asset. I can't see any successor having half his appeal, certainly not Brown or Blunkett. Of course a good section of the 'Labour movement' have always hated him - and if they think he's a liability he'll be out the door quicker than you can say 'Margaret Thatcher'. Yet during the Gulf War Labour looked into the abyss of life without Blair and said 'no thanks'. Can things really have changed that much since then ?

The Tories are playing very sensibly. The Left, including the BBC, are attacking the 'dossier' as a way of attacking the war, which the Tories fully supported, but they are happy to watch Blair and Campbell swing in the wind for a while. The Labour Left don't realise how much they owe to Alistair Campbell - his departure would indeed be a godsend to the Left, but a much bigger one to the Tories. It would certainly be fun to have him and Fiona Millar all over the media like Amanda Platell for a few years, always good for a negative quote. There is a chance of course that he'll do the decent thing and keep shtum until the Memoirs.
You can tell the Tories are recovering somewhat - I hven't heard Kenneth Clarke or Lord (John) Taylor on the BBC for months !