Calamity for Labour in Glasgow
This was Labour's third safest seat in Scotland and its 25th safest in Britain, yet it has been lost easily to the Scottish National party, which started the short campaign more than 13,000 votes behind, writes Julian Glover. This was a defeat on the scale of the byelections of the 1990s, which saw the Conservatives lose a string of safe seats to Labour and the Liberal Democrats - and then lose the general election. On this result (admittedly unimaginable at a real general election) Labour would be reduced to 25 seats: Andy Burnham and Harriet Harman would be the only cabinet ministers to survive. They would share space in the Commons with the likes of Frank Field and David Blunkett - but Brown would lose his seat.
Julian Glover The Guardian
Full article: For Brown, prospect is loss of leadership - and his own seat 
Margaret Curran was a good candidate, says Andrew Porter. A ferocious campaigner who was local and plugged into the sort of issues that would have meant, under anything but these extraordinary circumstances, she would be heading to Westminster as an MP. This loss was not about her, it was about the Prime Minister. Labour MPs have to ask two questions: firstly, can they summon the will to ditch another leader in little more than a year? Secondly, if they do, will whoever takes over give them a better chance against the Tories? The answer to the first is probably no, as the "men in grey suits" who are needed to persuade Brown, Thatcher-like, to step aside, are unlikely to emerge. And if another leader is found there is no consensus who it should be. Andrew Porter Telegraph.co.uk
Glasgow East by-election: Labour's defeat will go down in folklore
Tick off how many Cabinet Ministers appear on the media in support of the Prime Minister, writes Iain Dale. In particular watch out for Jack Straw, Alan Johnson, Geoff Hoon and Alistair Darling. If the likes of Balls, Cooper and the Milibands stay silent, Brown is in real trouble. And if there is a mass appearance before the cameras watch out for the 'message'. They will have all been briefed to put out a single message. I suspect the message will be that it's not about Gordon, we've all got to take the blame. In essence, they will be doing the opposite of 'taking one for the team'. They'll be taking one for Gordon. Iain Dale Iain Dale's diary
Full article: Glasgow Aftermath: How to Read the Runes
Gordon Brown faces a torrid session at Labour's national policy forum today, where party activists and union leaders will be wondering what the point is of drawing up policies when they look doomed to election defeat, says Nigel Morris. His meeting with Barack Obama tomorrow will also provide a cruel contrast between a president-in-waiting and a Prime Minister heading for the exit. Mr Brown will face a fresh round of questions over his chances of surviving until the end of the year. Mr Brown is a famously resilient politician and his allies will close ranks around him. But it could be that the voters of Glasgow's East End have struck a fatal blow to his hopes of remaining much longer in No 10. Nigel Morris The Independent
This could be the knock-out blow for a PM on the ropes
Max Mosley's victory for privacy
Sixty thousand pounds may be the most ever paid in damages in a privacy action, but it is not as much as Max Mosley has been spending a year on his sadomasochism, and it is mere chickenfeed for the News of the World, writes Alexander Chancellor. But Mr Justice Eady's decision in Mosley's favour is significant all the same, for it confirms that Britain, while hitherto resistant to the introduction of a privacy law, has actually had one all along: it is based on the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Britain subscribes. But the broad principles of this are difficult to interpret in practice. So this enables judges to more or less make up the law as they go along, and teach newspapers they don't like a lesson if they feel like it. Alexander Chancellor The Guardian
Full article: What have we learned? Max Mosley isn't a Nazi - and Britain has had a privacy law all along
Mosley had the right to enjoy S&M in private
Under modern law, Max Mosley is not entitled to confidentiality from any solicitor or accountant who might advise him on a tax savings scheme that might not be approved by the Revenue, says William Rees-Mogg. It seems absurd to argue that he should nevertheless be entitled to a higher degree of confidentiality from the women that he hired to play dominatrix roles in sadomasochistic ventures. Judges are reluctant to accept that newspapers are one of the few remaining safeguards. We have recently seen in some very painful cases involving the social services and the family courts that there is far too little exposure of serious injustices in cases that the press is not free to report. Any reduction of the ability of the press to investigate and to publish is likely to have serious consequences against the general welfare of society.
William Rees-Mogg The Times
Full article: Mosley did not deserve the law's protection
Time for a renewed Atlanticism
With echoes of Presidents Reagan and Kennedy stirring the huge Berlin crowd, Barack Obama yesterday challenged a new generation of Americans and Europeans to tear down the walls separating estranged allies, races and faiths, says a Times leader. In dealing with immediate threats to our security, such as terrorism and climate change, the US under either candidate for the presidency is likely to exhibit much continuity in policy. Emerging problems will be an increasingly assertive Russia, an unstable Africa, nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, dislocation of the world economy through a glut of Asian savings and the scramble for resources in the Arctic. There are few such challenges that would not benefit from more US influence rather than less. This is a time for a renewed Atlanticism.
Leader The Times
Full article: A Renewed Atlanticism
Alexander Cockburn: McCain has become the forgotten candidate
