Poor, poor Polly

Here she is writing in today's Guardian, her subject, as ever, Gordo; her tone, for the first time, dismayed.

'The mystery of this premiership deepens with every day,' she writes, 'perplexing some who thought they knew Brown best,' the 'some' quoted here presumably being Polly herself.

She continues:

'Most dismayed are those who toiled for him for 10 long years, drinking midnight toasts to the king over the water, plotting and obstructing, singing the old Gordon-is-my-darling songs, and telling any of us who would listen that when the bonnie prince sails home, the egregious sins of opportunistic unprincipled Blairism would be expunged. But now the prince is here, his leadership is a pale shadow of what they promised. Inept generalship looks in danger of leading the Labour clans towards their Culloden - and they can see it coming.'

Perhaps for the 'dismayed' Polly, portraying the Bottler as the self-aggrandizing, self-pitying drunk that was Bonny Prince Charlie is the only way she can come to terms with the 'pale shadow' of Gordo's leadership and his 'inept generalship'.

She attempts a rally of sorts, however, claiming Gordo 'is certainly the cleverest prime minister in living memory,' thus booting Harold Wilson off the top spot of the bigger brains rostrum. But the tone is downbeat, depressed, 'dismayed' indeed throughout.

'The Wizard of Oz stands exposed, the emperor has no clothes, the box of secrets is empty,' she sobs ... 'Even some erstwhile closest confederates are at a loss - and many feel cheated.' Is that you again, Polly?

Thus even the faithful Polly turns against the Bottler. Happy, happy days.

And needless to say, the comments are near universally anti Gordo.

Oh dear.