The civil service are on strike. The Prison Officers are in revolt. The police are pursuing enquiries into the top eschelons of the government. Everyone is waiting for Mr Blair to go, to find out who will inherit the spoils of office.

David Cameron was right yesterday to point out that John Reid claims he needs 2 .5 years to sort out the mess at the Home Office?? made by his Labour predecessors, but may only have a few months before his one ally in?? government, the Prime Minister departs. Now he has upset so many important people in the Home Office, they will be biding their time expecting him to lose his job this summer. It is unlikely he can drive through the huge changes he says the department needs.

??Authority is difficult to define, but easy to see in someone’s face and position. It drains away quickly when people in high office make mistakes, perform badly, or lose the crucial support of?? their boss and senior colleagues. Authority is draining away from 10 Downing Street, and from the Blairite Ministers that remain in post. Some have been forced out by events, and now huddle on the backbenches, making provocative speeches to try to reignite the flame of reform.

They are currently wasting their time. The government is beached, washed up, waiting for Gordon. Few of its supporters understand why it has become a vehicle for promoting more gambling and all hours drinking. Those who do, fear it is because the Chancellor can raise mroe taxes from those activities with fewer complaints. The money goes to feed the appetite of Labour’s unreformed and now rather sullen public sector. Tony Blair should have read King Lear to understand what happens when a an elderly King gives away his kingdom before he dies his political death- the inheritors are never grateful, and hasten the demise of the one who gave them all.

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