UK Liberal Chief Forced Out In 'Brutal' Purge

British politics got a jolt yesterday with the sudden resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrats. The 66-year-old leader of the UK's third party, languishing in the polls, was forced out by party apparatchiks in what other politicians are calling a brutal, ageist coup. "Merciless," screams the cover of today's Independent.

The resignation is a boon to Gordon Brown and bad news for the Tories, who'd been shaving off Lib Dem support for months. The party's young turks have praised the ex-leader in the media, but, as one Guardian commenter notes, "At Mafia funerals it's always the capo who ordered the hit who makes the most fulsome speech over the coffin." (More Sir Menzies Campbell stories.)