During this evening of national crisis, Gordon Brown’s Britishness campaign can come into its own

Not a good few days to be a British football fan. No, make that Scottish, English or Northern Irish football fan. England’s abject 3-2 defeat by Croatia at Wembley this evening meant that none of the 4 UK ‘nations’ has made it through to the European Championship finals in Summer 2008. But if you take a look at the qualifying tables you see that England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all finished 3rd in their respective groups. So why can’t Brown step up to the challenge on this day of national football crisis and, from this politician who claims “For all of my political life, I have stood up for Britain” speak out in favour of a British football team that would stand a better chance of qualifying? Oh, and maybe call for the resignation of McLaren too while he’s at it.