Two Jags, Two Shags, but now one less home

Politics is a beautiful game. The most irrelevant man in government, John Prescott, has finally caved in - after losing his department but keeping his salary and perks, growing criticism has led him to give up his grace-and-favour mansion. (He held on tenaciously - if there's one thing a Socialist loves dearly, it's his privileges that place him above the proletariat.)

It's wonderful to see New Labour unravelling. With all the main grudges now personal, and the personalities involved getting increasingly irritated, there's now a much greater chance of Blair leaving power this year (although it's still likely he and Prescott will hang on until 2007.) I'm in two minds about this. Will Gordon Brown fare better at the next election with a shorter pre-election tenure (so British voters don't learn too much about his bad points, i.e. irascibility and poor communication) or with two years plus (giving us time to realise that he is as bad a Prime Minister as he was a Chancellor? Remember, this is the Chancellor who inherited a huge budget surplus and a growing economy, and yet even while raising taxes along the way has somehow mismanaged Britain's public finances into a massive deficit.)

Either way - with the Bush-Blair era effectively over, the New Labour project in tatters, and the Blair-Brown partnership as bad as ever, David Cameron's probably smiling more widely every day at the moment.