Gordon Blows Up U.K. Election

Take that, Tory Boy.

Gordon Brown has just turned the British election upside down, announcing that a) he is preparing to step down as Labour’s leader, and b) he is opening football jersey formal talks with Nick Clegg on forming a progressive coalition, involving Labour, the Liberals, and the moderate parties in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Together these parties have more than enough seats to form a majority government, leaving the Conservatives out in the cold. Brown would presumably stay on nba jerseys as prime minister for a few months, and then hand over to his successor as Labour leader, or possibly to Clegg.

Nothing is certain, but if you want to have some fun, I suggest you spend some time this afternoon browsing the Web sites of the Tory newspapers—the Times, the Telegraph, The Daily Mail, and The Sun—which have been screaming for Brown to go. The P.M. has heeded their advice, but not in the way they had hoped. Apoplexy is not the word.

I’ll be back a bit later with some more considered thoughts. In the meantime, give Brown his due: he may have just carried out the political equivalent of soccer jerseys a successful suicide bombing.

UPDATE, 1:15 P.M.: The great bunfight has begun. See Adam Boulton, a presenter at Sky News, Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. satellite network, assailing Alastair Campbell, the veteran Labour spin doctor, who has been advising Gordon Brown.