Yesterday at the coast was an absolute scorcher. Mostly we lay on the terrace … lathered up with the suntan oil … and moved with maximum economy in the Sahara-like heat.

Inevitably the creature I closest resemble this morning is a half-cooked lobster … albeit one blessed with panda-eyes courtesy of my permanently-worn sunglasses. When we ventured out briefly about 11.15am for a food shop there was still a six-mile queue of vehicles on its way to the sea all the way from the Chichester round-about.

Earlier, having strapped my father into his favourite upright chair at his own request, we had tuned to BBC1 to watch the Prime Minister’s appearance on The Andrew Marr Show.

I am sure I am not alone in believing that the moment for the men in white coats to tap Gordon Brown on the shoulder and lead him off to the funny farm is not far away. Having told the nation at a recent Prime Minister’s Question Time that he would not be calling an immediate General Election because it might result in a Conservative Government, yesterday he was asked by Andrew Marr whether he would quit if a deputation of Cabinet colleagues came to see him (e.g. after the widely-predicted local and European election Labour meltdown this Thursday) and suggested this might be in the best interests of the Party.

Mr Brown’s answer was “No, because I am dealing with the issues, I am dealing with the economy every day”.

He went on to say that his twin priority now was to clean-up Parliament and introduce sweeping constitutional change, though he wasn’t at all specific or clear about what he meant by this.

When it was pointed out that what members of the public actually wanted was an immediate General Election – in order to clear out all the corrupt MPs [who, having announced their intention ‘not to stand again’, on the face of it will still be entitled to sit and draw their salaries for up to another twelve months and take massive pensions when they depart] – Mr Brown brushed this aside, saying that it was vital to introduce the necessary changes first in order to restore public faith in politicians. Asked how soon this would happen he replied “Over the next period of time”.

The only conclusion this member of the public reached was that Mr Brown is delusional and borderline mad. He plainly has scant interest in either democracy or the elective process. Furthermore, having convinced himself he’s the ‘best man for the job’ (whatever anyone else is saying), he has no intention of giving up power if he can possibly help it.

No doubt when the fast-approaching time comes for him to go he’ll have to be dragged screaming, hanging on to the furnishings by his fingernails until the last moment [oh, hang on, he hasn’t got any … he bites them to the quick of course …].