The political event itself isn't a big one. A senior public figure is suspected of wrongdoing, and the politician responsible for this person, in effect, suspends him and allows an investigation to proceed. This is an improvement on Ken Livingstone who, for all his virtues, was far too protective of Lee Jasper when he should have been suspended and investigated a lot earlier. (And, to be fair, Gordon Brown is an improvement on Tony Blair when dealing with Cabinet Ministers who break the rules.)

However, this could severely hammer Boris's political standing. Whether or not Boris deserves his buffoon image, he used that image to portray himself as refreshing and different. Now that he is in office, that same buffoon image could be used against him very quickly, and if yesterday's headlines are anything to go by, this could be happening already. And although this may not be fair on Boris Johnson, the Conservatives don't really have any grounds to complain because they've been happy to allow the papers to maul Gordon Brown on image rather than policy.

A 2010 election based on policy and merit looks like an increasingly, shall I say, "optimistic" possibility.