Why keep taking this humiliation?

When I was a young boy at Grammar School, they employed the 'fagging' principle, (No this is nothing to do with homosexuality - at least not overtly) where a first year boy was required to run errands for an older sixth former or prefect. Some perverse British idea about 'character building' and a willingness to recognise one's betters. If you failed in a chore you might be summoned to the prefect's common room, ordered to bend over and be given a boot up the backside for your failure. A humiliating reminder of your humble place in the scheme of things.

Such must be the state of mind in which Tony Blair finds himself at present - and for the forseeable future as long as he remains Prime Minister. Despite - or sadly for him, because of - putting his personal stamp on the programme to replace the Trident nuclear missile, so many of his own M.P.s rebelled against the decision yesterday that the vote was carried only with the support of the Conservative Party. What an abject humiliation for a sitting Prime Minister to rely on the opposition to carry his policies!

Blair must feel he is subject to the metaphorical boot up the arse every time he commits himself to a policy initiative. Everything he does is now openly questioned, frequently condemned and openly derided. The man has lost every ounce of credibility and the sad decline from the hero of Dianagate and 911 is almost pathetic to watch. Why does he continue to do it? His stubborn refusal to resign is handicapping not only the work of government but the future of Labour in power.

Frankly, Blair has asked for every brickbat he has got but my fear is for what remains of the Labour Party. I don't have a lot of time for Gordon Brown but as a politician he is streets ahead of the anaemic Cameron - the souffle in a suit. My fear is that Britain will get a Conservative government at the next election simply because Labour will still be trying to overcome the Blair handicap. Gordon Brown, if he is to be Labour's choice, needs some time to 'bed down' and create his own leadership image before a General Election arrives too late to set his own agenda.

If someone as respected as the much loved former Speaker of the House, Baroness Betty Boothroyd, is prepared to come out publicly and say that Blair's authority is completely shot then, Dear God, surely the man can read the signs himself? He is neck deep in the 'cash for honours' issue, he has been lambasted over the state pension failures, he is deeply wounded by Iraq - Britain's worst foreign policy decision for over 50 years - and much of his Party hates him with a loathing which is visceral.

It is surely time for the Whips to exercise their authority, demand a meeting with Blair and , almost to the sentence, echo Oliver Cromwell's words to Parliament in 1653:-

"You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"