Premiers’ league: John Major (top right) managed to win an election for the Tories after Margaret Thatcher was ousted – but Labour under Gordon Brown faces its first defeat since Tony Blair became leader

The British have been here before. The descent into acrimonious chaos of Gordon Brown’s administration has disinterred memories of the 1990s. Then, the Conservative government of John Major was busy writing its political obituary. The Tories have since spent a dozen years in the political wilderness. On its present trajectory, Mr Brown’s Labour government is heading for a similar fate.