BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN WORST CRISIS IN ITS HISTORY – AT 9:12 P.M. ET:  We regret to inform you that there may not always be an England, not after today's disastrous actions of the prime minister.  This is worse than the blitz, infinitely more depressing than Dunkirk, and far more humiliating than the loss of India.  The Times of London has the sordid, unspeakable story:

Gordon Brown prostrated himself as a “penitent sinner” yesterday after a brush with a voter triggered a calamitous chain of events that threatened to derail Labour on the eve of tonight’s pivotal TV debate.

The Prime Minister spent an unscheduled 45 minutes inside the terraced house of Gillian Duffy apologising to the Labour-supporting widow for insulting her behind her back.

His muttered description of her as a “bigoted woman," picked up by a microphone as he drove off from their combative but apparently friendly encounter, plunged Labour’s high command into its most serious crisis of the campaign.

Instead of pressing the party’s record on the economy before tonight’s final trial by television, the election machine was reduced to desperate firefighting as Lord Mandelson led a series of Cabinet ministers on to the airwaves. The Business Secretary said that Mr Brown had been wrong to criticise Mrs Duffy, whose mistake, on her way to buy a loaf of bread, had been to buttonhole the Prime Minister over the deficit, immigration and student debts.

A mortified Mr Brown issued six apologies over the next six hours, including one by e-mail to Labour supporters for letting them down. Despite saying sorry to Mrs Duffy over the telephone, he ignored aides and insisted on driving back to Rochdale from Manchester, abandoning his preparation for tonight’s third and final leaders’ debate, to atone in person for his blunder.

COMMENT:  How did England sink so low?  What does this mean for the Royal Navy?  The RAF?  James Bond?

I must consult with my religious texts.

April 28