Countdown

The electorate is now clear: they do not want Gordon Brown, nor the Labour party to remain in Government beyond this Parliament. Glasgow East has started the countdown to the end of the latest incarnation of the Labour party.

The SNP are probably right to describe the result in Glasgow East as "off the richter scale". And it goes to show that the traditional campaigning methods that served Labour so well in the 1990s - the "Tories are bad" strategy - need to be dramatically revised if the party is to avoid decimation at the next general election.

As I've said before, telling the electorate that things were bad under the Tories in the 1980s doesn't wash anymore - people want to hear a vision for the country and for their communities, not a history lesson. It is embarrassing that the Labour party stick steadfastly to this antiquated mantra.

Punters at PoliticalBetting.com are currently suggesting that Gordon Brown will still be in charge on the 1st January 2009. I think this is optimistic, and would certainly be a mistake on the part of Labour MPs - many of whom now look certain to lose their jobs at the next national poll.

It is difficult to see how the Labour party will 'renew' itself from here.

• I was upset to hear the news that Carol Vorderman is leaving Countdown. Without either Vorderman or the late Richard Whiteley on the show, and given the current trend of having an almost Have I Got News For You-style of presenter changes, it is difficult to see what future the programme has.