that no-one expected but which many Lib Dems privately said they wanted to hear - an opportunity to select a new leader without having to spill the current leader's blood.
This afternoon Menzies Campbell told shocked staff at his party HQ that he did not believe he could turn his or his party's ratings around.
It was always assumed that this fiercely proud and competitive man would never surrender the top job. It now appears clear that that pride did not allow him to continue as the media hounded him and as few in his party would come to his defence.
What on earth did he mean ?
Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable has an unnerving habit of answering a straight question with a straight answer. Asked about Sir Ming Campbell's leadership, he replied, "it's certainly under discussion" before adding, "I don't think it's under threat". He went on to predict that it was "very likely" Sir Menzies would want to stay. Not exactly a "stop the speculation and rally round the leader" message then.
Cable is acknowledging in public what much of his party are talking about in private. The 'election that never was' decision has forced the Lib Dems to face up to the fact that polling day may not be merely 20 months away - in May 2009. It could be 32 months away - in May 2010 - if an economic downturn forces Brown to go long. By then, Campbell would be about to turn 69.
The question Cable is implicitly asking is - is our leader really up for that long and that bruising a fight?
The question many others in the party are asking is - even if he is, can we afford to let him carry on?
If the answer to the first question is "yes" and the second is "no", the Lib Dems have a real problem.
Blair - the backseat driver. That was the prospect raised by the headlines in some of the Sundays (, and ). It is wrong, as the former prime minister's office were swift to point out, but that should not comfort Team Brown too much. The Blairites are not plotting at this, the first hint of trouble for Gordon but they are shaking their heads, muttering "I told you so" and musing about how they can shape "the vision thing" which all now agree Labour needs to find.
"Get behind Gordon" was, I'm told, the sentiment of the former dear leader鈥檚 texts to his closest allies (having just got a mobile phone he's sending them thick and fast). Tony, one source said, needs this project to work.
That has not, of course, stopped some of his cheerleaders pointing out that it was who saw the inheritance tax problem coming, wrote a pamphlet warning of the threat it posed to Labour and was then roundly condemned by a certain Alistair Darling for doing so. Byers will, I predict, have more ideas to contribute soon.
It's also been noted that a self-inflicted wound rooted in mis-reading the polls and the media followed the first occasion in years when Alastair Campbell and Philip Gould were not involved.
So, there is no Blairite revolt but there is a feeling around that Gordon Brown needs to be persuaded to listen to voices way beyond his own intimate circle.
