The Perfect Storm for Labour

It was going to be hard in any case, with the traditional vote against an incumbent government in local elections, but the amount of recent scandal engulfing Labour is astonishing:

- Patricia Hewitt getting slow-handclapped every few days over her claim that the NHS has had its "best year"
- Police investigations rumbling on about donations to Labour and appointments to the Lords
- Cherie Blair's hairdressing costs
- The release of foreign inmates and the Home Office simply losing track of hundreds of offenders
- New revelations over John Prescott and an affair

Not to mention policies on Iraq, PFI, railway privatisation, city academies, tuition fees, and foundation hospitals that have alienated segments of the trade union movement and Labour itself.