Labour's shocking performance in Euro elections

With the dreadful news that the BNP have got two MEPs elected there is a risk that this news dominates the next news cycle and lets Labour off the hook.

But these results in a nationally contested election are the worst in Labour's history for alomst a hundred years. In fact you have to go back to just after they were formed when they were still finding their political feet to see a result so bad. It is amazing to see the party of government in such a state.

They have dropped more than 7 percentage points or in other words about a third of their support. In some regions their vote has more than halved in terms of absolute voters.

Now I have no idea what Gordon Brown is going to say to his colleagues at the PLP meeting later today. However I do know what they should say to him. They should tell him that he has led them to their worst and most embarrassing defeat in almost 100 years. They should insist that he cannot blame America, or the credit crunch, or the expenses scandal. He needs to take responsibility for this himself, in exactly the way that Gordon Brown used to blame John Major for the Tories problems in the run up to 1997.

I know I have banged on about this before but after last night it is more clear than ever before. The polls are not wrong. The Labour party is now despised by huge sections of the electorate. If Gordon Brown remains the leader, the party could be all but destroyed at the next General Election.

For their own sakes, Labour MPs need to act now. A new leader will not be a panacea. They will still almost certainly lose the next General Election but they would mitigate their losses and would live to fight another day.