I’ve long said that a Lib Dem opposition to a Tory government would be my ideal political situation in this country (you might say that the conservative in me would like a return to the good old days of Liberals vs Conservatives), and I’m on record as an ‘anyone but Labour’ voter at the next election, so you’ll forgive me a little extra cheeriness this fine sunny morning upon reading the news that the latest ICM poll has the Liberal Demorats just ahead of Labour.

Bearing in mind all the usual caveats about polls, and remembering that this is only one poll, it’s still wonderful news for the anti-Brownites among us.

So, can we over-think this poll and extrapolate wild fantasies about the future on the basis of one, possibly shaky, survey result? Yes we can!

I still believe, you see (as do many others), that we should have a General Election at the earliest possible moment, and curiously enough this latest poll may hasten the day that we head for the polling stations. The reason for this being that this poll will made Gordon Brown’s position even weaker, and talk of replacing him is already hitting fever pitch. Let us, then, for a moment assume that someone within the Labour Party is about to grow courage enough to stick in the knife. And what a beautiful thought that is.

Brown’s replacement, if they have more sense than Brown did, should do all he or she can to keep Labour from dropping to third place at the next election. Winning isn’t really much of a possibility now, so the priority ought to be protecting the party from the humiliation of ending up in the cheap seats. The only near-guaranteed way to do this would be to hold an election while the electorate are still willing to give them a chance. A year could easily be too long.

So, assuming electoral meltdown next week, a replacement Prime Minister at the Labour Conference in September and an election in October/November, we might finally see the end of twelve years of Labour within the year 2009.

Either that, or we might just see Vince Cable become the Shadow Chancellor.

Today’s outlook, I have to say, seems bright and blue, with nary a cloud in sight.