C-SPAN HAS IT ALL

If you’re a Britophile, the BBC livecast on C-SPAN is excellent entertainment. The results are very weird so far: different patterns in different regions; different results in Labour-Tory fights than in Labour-Lib-Dem battles and than in Tory-Lib Dem contests. I’d be amazed if the 7 percent swing against Labour continues nationally; the odds on Labour losing are still small. But if I were Michael Howard, I’d be ebullient right now. If I were Blair, I’d be worrying. Remember that a good 70 Labour MPs are anti-Blair; if the prime minister’s majority goes beneath that, the pressure on him to go will be intense. Too soon to say definitively, but so far, Blair’s continued premiership is now in severe doubt. I just saw Tony Blair’s face. It was fixed in a horrifying, death-rattle grin. He knows it could be a long, white-knuckled night.