Cometh the hour...

Health Secretary Alan Johnson told the BBC that Mr Brown was "a man for these times".

Swine flu and economic crisis and society going to the dogs, a public disillusioned beyond repair (46,236 signatures and counting) and rumblings among the party faithful; something of a backhanded compliment here, perhaps.

But what better figurehead for a nation plunging into recession than the man whose unshakable belief in the myth of his genius led to hubristic economic policies? Who better to represent the morass of NuLab’s gravy-train cronyism than a clannish Scotsman, walled in behind his privileged coterie of attack dogs?

Or perhaps it's an allusion to goverment by text-message and YouTube, and Brown's attempts to ingratiate himself with that NuLab target audience 'Yungpeeple' - I'm still having nightmares about the funeral-home makeup and creepy smile from that webcast.

Still, you’ve got to hand it to Johnson for standing by his man while the rest of NuLab jostle for positions in the lifeboats, or, to quote UK Commentators, the ship deserts the sinking rat.