'Every government ­assumes deeds and ­misdeeds of the past," writes Hannah Arendt in Eichmann and the Holocaust. "It means hardly more, generally speaking, than that every generation, by virtue of being born into a historical continuum, is burdened by the sins of the fathers as it is blessed with the deeds of the ancestors."

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Thursday 28 May 2009

Thanks to hanging chads and the supreme court, the left could poke fun at the electoral credibility of George Bush during his first term. And given the labyrinthine deals that take place in Brussels, Eurosceptics can scoff at the legitimacy of European commission president José Manuel Barroso. But when it comes Britain, there can really be no debate about the democratic credentials of our head of state. She has none.

So this is how it ends. More than a decade after Labour came into power in Britain promising ethical leadership and public probity, it is set to leave with public regard for the party and Parliament at a record low. The party is in free fall, the political culture is in shards and the political class, in disgrace. For the first time in more than 300 years, the Speaker of the House has been ousted. Ministers and MPs on both sides of the aisle have resigned. Prime Minister Gordon Brown could be next. For Labour, things will only get worse. European elections on June 4 will leave the party depleted. A general election, which must be held within a year, could well devastate it for a generation.