Will Gordon go for the good of the party? Or can he turn it around?

Even some of Gordon Brown's most senior Cabinet colleagues are not ruling out the possibility that he could be out by the end of the year. There will be no 'men in grey suits', according to the Mole's informant. "He may decide just to go himself."

The likelihood of Brown deciding to quit is pretty slim. He is not by nature a quitter. In fact, the main reason he is now in this hole is because he is so stubborn and will not listen to advice.

But people who know him well say that Brown has always put the party before his personal ambition, which is why he allowed himself to be bamboozled by Peter Mandelson into letting Blair have a free run for the leadership in 1994.

Before today's Times poll suggesting that 57 per cent of Labour supporters want him to go, the possibility was being quietly discussed in corners of Westminster that perhaps by the end of the year, if he knows the game is up, Brown will go for the good of the party.

The other option is for a palace coup, like the one that brought down Thatcher, when part of her Cabinet - led by Ken Clarke - told her to her face that she had lost the confidence of her party. But that was during an election, after she had won the first round against Heseltine, but with insufficient support to stop a second round. This time, there is no powerful Heseltine figure willing to oppose Brown, and even the 'stalking donkeys' are unable to get into a trot against him, Trot being the operative word.

There is another scenario also being touted round the Cabinet: Brown biffs Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions today, beats off the Tory challenge in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, comes up with a compensation package for the losers from the abolition of the 10p tax band, and bows to pressure by compromising on 42 days' detention for suspected terrorists. Not quite one bound, but he would be free. "It's all down to Gordon," said my informant.

THE MOLE: PM UNDER SIEGE

FIRST POSTED MAY 7, 2008