Democracy has been dismantled while a squalid game of petty politics engulfs a fag-end government and people and parliament are left in limbo. Mandy is left lording it up as the winner and voters forced to take a back seat.
The party is over for the New Labour Party on the horns of a dilemma in a lose-lose situation, driven only by a last gasp lust for power.
As a broken Brown government ignores parliament and the people for a self-serving game of cat and mouse politics, Brown is left a hostage to his own cabinet and a hostage to his former foe.
Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, has managed to achieve what ruthless politicians can only dream of - absolute power with absolutely no accountability.
The Party is paying the price after Mandy's intervention to save the skin of the ex-Supreme Leader.
The parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) meets for a showdown tomorrow, angry and frustrated at the autocratic and dismissive style of Brown's leadership.
But the PLP is stuffed with lowly ministers and pay-roll MPs who've taken the Downing Street shilling to toe the line.
It would take an honest and honourable member to put the Party and the people above their own lust for power and greed. A PLP revolt stands little chance of toppling the regime unless MPs get off their backsides and show that it's parliament not the iron grip of government that should call the shots.
Not since the 1950s has there been such a government of the unelected and unaccountable with so many unelected peers entitled to attend some cabinet meetings.
Not since the rotten boroughs has parliament been forced to bow to corrupt peer patronage.
Not since god knows when has there been one man with a fancy title of First Secretary of State who holds so much power and influence and the fate of a prime minister in his vile and grubby hands.
The stuffing has been knocked out of Brown's waning authority. He's left in limbo land with a collapsing compromise cabinet stuffed with a motley bunch of cronies and yes men, with unelected Mandelson calling all the shots and pulling all the strings.
Hope for democracy is on the horizon with the opposition motion this week of no confidence, by Welsh and Scottish nationalist parties and looming support from mainstream Tory, LibDem and backbench New Labour MPs.
But even if the motion is allowed through, expect a rerun of the 42 days detention debacle, when the Northern Ireland DUP held all the cards with a squalid game of pork-barrel politics set to repeat itself.
Today the Sunday Times exposes the bitter rift between Brown's henchman Balls and Mandelson, while a leaked email swirls around in which Mandy attacks the "angry and insecure" PM fresh from his disgraceful and embarrassing performances in Normandy (right side-bar).
Things should only get worse but in an undemocratic autocratic regime, anything that crops up no matter how damaging makes no difference to the arrogant power-crazed political elite.
Looming in the background are the "terrible" European election results, due out later today, set to show a disaster for the government with the shocking undemocratic state of affairs where the ruling government of the day will be left with an impotent political voice in Europe.
In a democracy, if the Party came behind UKIP, or dropped below 20 per cent of the national share of the vote, the game should be up.
But even with this likely blow and government set to take a hammering, the spinners are already preparing briefing notes ready for the automatons to be wheeled in front of the TV cameras reading from the carefully-crafted spinning script.
At the heart is the intractable dilemma for the Party. Stick with Brown and hope things will get better, which they know in their hearts it can't before spring 2010, while bunkered Brown clings on until the bitter end. Or cut their losses now, instal Blair prop Johnson and the inevitable general election in the autumn.
Despite the best efforts of Downing Street spinners that all is hunky dory in Brown town, it is clear that both the PLP and grass roots members are split right down the middle.
Dave must be delighted. In lose-lose New Labour land only the Tories are winners. Cut Brown loose now and a general election will see a small Tory majority.
Limp on and an increasingly angry and frustrated electorate will punish the now discredited New Labour brand, leaving the Tories with a landslide from which it will take a decade to recover.
New Labour just doesn't get it. The Party could salvage some dignity, respect and a few seats if only Brown had the good grace to go and the Party had the guts to let the people have their say instead of forcing them to take a back seat.
But Mandy is having a lovely time. The power behind the throne is now wearing the crown. Why spoil the party for the sake of the Party.
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