It is possibly the worst crisis to beset a premiership since 1992 when John Major -battled with the critics in his own party against the backdrop of a waning economy.

But as Gordon Brown grapples with eerily similar difficulties, the words of the last Conservative prime minister seem appropriate. "I am walking over hot coals -suspended over a deep pit at the bottom of which are a large number of vipers -baring their fangs," Mr Major said.