It's make your mind up time

...and I'm not talking about the elections tomorrow, though for the record I'm voting Conservative for Derbyshire County Council and Libertas for the European parliament. I did have a brief moment of pause on the latter when I discovered a guy I used to know, Roy Kennedy, was standing for Labour. He's a top bloke, but unfortunately Labour through-and-through, an insurmountable obstacle!

No, it's really make your mind up time for those around the cabinet table. The headlines are doom-laden for Gordon Brown this morning with much talk of the government falling apart and Brown losing control. 5 Live's Nicky Campbell compared the situation to the film Downfall, charting Hitler's final days in the bunker with his closest advisors around him. Most strikingly, The Guardian has called on Brown to be 'cut loose' in today's editorial and The Sun's Trevor Kavanagh made the bold assertion, again on 5 Live, that Brown would actually be gone sometime next week. Is Kavanagh aware that there's a real plot to out Brown in the offing?

If there is going to be a move against Brown, it has to happen quickly. He will be reshuffling the cabinet on either Friday or Monday. It can be taken as read that anyone who takes a seat at the table won't then go on to knife him in the back. They will be bound to Brown until the bitter end. The problem is that it would take an extraordinarily brave soul to come out publically and do the deed in the next couple of days and I'm not sure there are any such figures in the present cabinet. However, if a cabinet member of sufficient seniority were to resign and call for the PM to do the same, it would without a doubt have the desired effect.

An alternative scenario would be for the 'grey suits' to send a delegation to Brown and tell him that time is up. There are few figures left with the authority to lead such a delegation, but Jack Straw is the obvious choice. He's widely-respected in cabinet and were he to move, most of the cabinet would swing in behind him, delivering a fait accompli to Brown. This would also give Brown the opportunity to save a little dignity. He could say that he was stepping down in the interests of the party and the country, rather than face humiliation at their hands.

Then again, maybe nothing will happen. Labour MPs of all ranks are inherently spineless and in all probability Brown will survive if he makes it through the reshuffle. Needless to say, this would be bad for the country, saddled for another year with a Prime Minister and a government that the vast majority of the public don't want and which lacks all moral authority to govern.

It's time for someone in cabinet to step up and do what's right for the country.

UPDATE
Hazel Blears has resigned. Looks like another one who doesn't want her departure to look like a sacking. This storm shows no signs of abating.