Yesterday dawned with Labour MPs taking bets on the likelihood of Tony Blair staggering on as Prime Minister until next May. But hour by hour, as the crisis facing their wounded leader became clear, the calculations surrounding his survival began to change.Suddenly, the end of the year looked too long. By lunchtime, Mr Blair's chances of surviving the party conference later this month seemed slim. By the afternoon the political lifespan of the man who led his party to three general victories was being counted in days, and even hours. Like Margaret Thatcher before him, he faces being overwhelmed, not by the opposition or the voters but by his own MPs.
Mr Blair was holed up in Downing Street with a circle of his closest aides for most of the morning. Every half hour or so, news reached them of another resignation or statement calling for the Prime Minister's removal.