"...there was no other way. Let's not pretend this is an elegant departure of his own volition in the interests of the country. [The man] lost an election that might have been won outright had he only departed sooner. No good grace now can erase the catastrophic mistake the man has made in so over-reaching his political skills and talents. Should there be pity and generosity for him now in his leaving? For all those years he plotted, planned, schemed and wrought havoc on his party in his single-minded determination to seize the crown he was not equipped to wear – though he had gifts and virtues too. But there will be time enough on many a long winter evening to ponder the dark and strange character of [the Man] when he is gone."
Polly Toynbee wrote this passage of the soon to retire Labour leader, prime minister Gordon Brown. As her words sunk in I had a moment to wonder if Canadians are not just one election away from the moment when we might well say these same things about another man, one closer to home?
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