Less than a year after Tony Blair won a historic third general election victory, the prime minister is in trouble. He no longer commands a guaranteed parliamentary majority, while the police are investigating accusations that his government offered business tycoons peerages to keep his party afloat. It is time, say his growing band of critics, for Mr Blair to stand down and hand over to Gordon Brown, the prime minister in waiting.

To his many admirers around the world, such criticism must be baffling. In the US, Mr Blair is seen as a trusted partner of President George W. Bush, an ally of unshakeable resolve. In Europe, Britain's economic dynamism is the envy of leaders who lack the strength or will to carry through much-needed reforms in their own countries.