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."