God Bless The British Public

Because after weeks of everything that could be being chucked at Labour, today's headline in The Times Online: Blair’s Closest Aide Faces 'Loans Conspiracy' Probe shows that if we throw Jonathan Powell, Abe Levy, Ruth Turner, John McTernan and a few others to the wolves if certain people confess to having inadvertently committed minor misdemeanours, Labour's share of the poll will shoot up again from its current miserable depths.

Ruth Bowes-Turner

With the public now convinced that final arrests and charges are about to take place, the Populus poll shows Labour's ratings up 1% from early January to 33%, the Tories down 3% to 36% and the Lib Dems up 1% to 19%. For those of you who can't be bothered to stick this into the various election prediction sites, this would give Labour 305 seats, the Tories 273 and the LDs 40. I'd like to think the public are making their judgement based on the sound economic performance of the government and its policies for the things that affect their lives, rather than short-term headlines. But unfortunately it looks like they are simply celebrating the impending departure of Labour's sleazeballs. I shouldn't admit it, but I did laugh the other night over a pint down the Shakespeare when a local wag asked: "What do you call dumping the cash-for-honours blame on Ruth Turner?" - "Ruthless". "What do you call Labour Party HQ without Ruth Turner's fundraising?" - "Roofless" Oh well, we'll take the votes from anywhere we can find them. In the words of someone I admired very much: "Gawd Bless The British Public. Where would one be without them?"