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Potentially huge news out of the UK:

Tony Blair will be served notice to quit Downing Street at a meeting of the Cabinet next week when senior ministers plan to confront him over his refusal to commit to a departure timetable.

One described Mr Blair this weekend as "deluded", while another said he was being "self-indulgent". They are among a growing number of cabinet ministers, some formerly loyal to Mr Blair, who have concluded he must leave office sooner rather than later if Labour is to have a chance of winning a fourth term.

"This pantomime has to end or we are going to lose the next election," said one last night.

Another was brutally dismissive of the Prime Minister's attempt to "spray around policy initiatives" ahead of the party's annual conference in Manchester. "Tony is deluding himself if he thinks that anyone is listening to all this stuff."

Senior ministers were speaking last night of "near-panic" among MPs in marginal seats as Labour's poll ratings plunge because of the in-fighting.

One said that Mr Blair was being "self-indulgent" in seeking to bind the hands of his successor to ever-more radical reforms of the public services .

A group of senior ministers is determined at a meeting of a so-called "political Cabinet" next week to tell the Prime Minister to his face that he must give a clear timetable at the conference.

Not to spin everything in terms of US politics, but... If Blair goes, it would have a huge impact on Bush's policies. Without the UK, our "coalition of the willing" will be a meaningless assortment of former eastern bloc nations and island micro-states. And there's also, of course, the potential for serious investigations into the deliberate misuse of pre-war intelligence. Given Blair's role as Bush's enabler, well....

Something tells me this is going to be a very interesting semester of PO101!