Gordon Brown must be wondering where it all went wrong: in September, he led David Cameron by 11 points in the polls. He could rely on the Conservatives to serve up grammar school rows, ill-timed photo-opportunity trips to the Third World and by-election losses. But now, it's all gone topsy turvy. Last weeks polls show the Conservatives leading by 11 points, a situation which we haven't seen since Thatcher was in power. Brown is beleagured. Northern Rock is being spoon-fed taxpayers money; junior officials are losing our personal data; the Labour party is accepting illegal donations both north and south of the border and the Armed Forces are shrieking for attention.

Poor guy, he's been scheming for ten years to get the top job, and it's taken him just six months to bring the whole thing crashing down. And you can see it in his appearance. Remember the effort Labour officials went to as they tried to spruce up the living incarnation of a stereotypical grumpy old Scot? His hair was lovingly retouched, his visage freshened up. After the string of recent debacles, he's washed up, run down and narrowly hanging on.

The Daily Telegraph summed up the gulf between Labour and Conservative fortunes when they noted that last Thursday, Cameron was having tea at The White House, while Brown was waiting for the police to drop by.

But Brown's incompetence isn't enough for the Conservatives. While they now have a substantial lead in the polls, it doesn't compare to Labour's popularity in 1997 as John Major's government collapsed around him. Some of the problem lies in party definition – most people don't know what the Conservatives stand for. Ironically, their attempts to rectify this recently (like a trip to Washington and proposals on education) have been drowned out by the Government's increasingly sensational cock-ups.

Somebody's taking them seriously though: Alex Salmond has been giving some tips to George Osborne on how to win votes in Scotland while a meeting between Cameron and the First Minister is planned in order to discuss how they might work together if the Conservatives come to power. The SNP represents a key pivot in how the UK political scene is gearing up for a Conservative government. They're now prepared to ditch their long-standing aversion to a coalition with the Scottish Conservatives under Annabel Goldie (although whether she'll revert on her no-coalitions promise remains to be seen) and co-operate to boot out Labour. With the donations row now in both England and Scotland, the SNP and Tory camps seem positioned to consolidate their resources and send New Labour packing.