The knife sharpeners are out in Cowley Street

Whilst everyone talks abot Gordon Brown tactical cock-up, and his bizarre performance at the press conference yesterday where he seemingly argued that Labour would have won an election well and that the marginals were still theirs, the real losers in all of this is surely the Lib Dems?

After all, now there will probably be no election for 18 months they are being led by a man who will be 68 when the starting gun is fired. This is not an ageist observation but a statement of fact, and whatever doubts there may have been amongst the Lib Dems they will surely be greater now.

By all accounts the pieces on the chess boards are starting to move. The anonymous briefings against a great Tory electoral asset have begun, with 'senior Lib Dems' raising the prospect of a leadership change. One quote that has appeared has alludeds to Campbell's past and made a metaphor between a sprint (autumn) and a marathon (2009).

Ming the sprinter cannot last the distance being the clear subtext of the anonymous briefer. I expect that soon the 'young turks' will show their cards and another round of Lib Dem back stabbing will begin in the open.