Lord Mandelson’s brass neck was arriving five minutes before the rest of him tonight as he observed that there was a ‘slight odour’ about the Number Ten bullying episode.

For a man who sees himself as the puppeteer, he has all the antennae of a marionette. The odour is not slight – and it isn’t coming from Christine Pratt’s direction. During a day that will live long in the memory of those who truly want a Future Fair for All, Brown’s shock-troops and Mandelson’s unpleasant bitch-circle have forced resignations, badgered civil servants into denial, thrown foul ordure at anyone associated with the NBH….and shown everyone what they all are: despicable bullies.

No doubt they are all purring to themselves tonight. The mission has been accomplished, and once again the obvious truth has been stood on its head. As our Tenmole joked earlier today, The Leader can carry on poring over his maps, moving facts about like some demented dictator parachuted in from the past. But he is surrounded on all fronts: Tories, Libdems, the media, most of his own Party (and most of all, the voters) have had enough of Gordon Brown’s self-pity and pathetic dissembling, Mandelson’s conspiracy drivel, Campbell’s crude manipulation, and the braindead interviewing theatre of Piers Morgan.

In such a context of casual fascism, it is a disgrace that the best Her Majesty’s Opposition can do is struggle to maintain the lead it has. As we’ve established already, the lead is bigger than most people realise; but it should be twice the size and more. The British People (as they showed in Norwich) have no stomach for any of the major Parties. The Tories will win the election. But it will be a defeat for democracy, and a tragedy for liberty.