“Seeing it through” has become a staple of political dialogue. Most famously, Mr Blair managed to see the Northern Ireland peace process through — although not, of course, Iraq. It is not just politicians who are non-resigners, as London’s police chief, Sir Ian Blair, has shown. Meanwhile, his assistant commissioner, Andy Hayman, appeared to resign, though without the penalty the public imagined. He remained on the Met payroll until he qualified for his full pension at the end of the year. After resigning over lost child-benefit data, the revenue chair, Paul Gray, was taken in by his old boss, the cabinet secretary. The “resignations” were, after all, for popular consumption. It is understandable that public figures should want to resist media witch-hunts. But institutional integrity is undermined by such sleight of hand.

So far, Gordon Brown has stood behind ministers under pressure. But soon the new incumbents’ period of grace will be over. Then, as Time magazine wrote with spectacular understatement during the Watergate crisis, a few resignations might help.

From an editorial in ‘The Guardian’, January 2