BRITAIN:Tony Blair's authority is draining away. Ministers are in a state of uncertainty about their own career prospects, and are thus unable to plan for the future.
Mr Blair talks about his policy, while ministers and "wannabes" wait for Gordon Brown to pronounce on his. And there is nothing Mr Blair can do about it.
That was the grim "reality" served up by Conservative leader David Cameron yesterday during a session of prime minister's questions leaving most observers wondering how much more Mr Blair - or the country for that matter - could be expected to take.
On a good day Tony Blair still stands head-and-shoulders above all those who would succeed him. Indeed, it is but a few short months since that vintage party conference oration worthy of a man seeking his first term in office, rather than serving out the final months of his last. But with the police circling Number 10 over the "cash for honours" affair, good days are now scarce.
Even as on Tuesday evening, when good news and the prospect of a final settlement in Northern Ireland were called in prospect, Mr Blair had to see Taoiseach Bertie Ahern off the premises with questions ringing in his ears about Lord 'Cashpoint' Levy's arrest on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
The indignity of it all was laid bare in the Commons as Mr Cameron taunted Mr Blair over the chaos in the Home Office and John Reid's acknowledgement that it might take 2½ years to sort out the problems in that troubled department. Would Mr Blair "guarantee" that Dr Reid would be given the time he needed, asked the Tory leader.
Of course, Mr Blair could do nothing of the sort. And that, charged Mr Cameron, was the problem. Mr Blair talked about his policy, but wouldn't be around to implement it. "When are you going to realise it's all over," he demanded. "Why do not you accept what everybody knows - it is in the national interest for you to go?"
As Mr Blair made a fist of countering that the national interest demanded more of the Labour "investment" in health and education that Mr Cameron had opposed, loyal backbenchers generated a fair bit of noisy support.
However, when SNP leader Alex Salmond showed the sharper instinct, asking simply if there had been "a cover-up in Downing Street", many Labour MPs fell silent and averted their gaze - wondering, no doubt, when and how it might all end.