Waiting for Norwich North. What will Alan Johnson do?

The Guardian’s Martin Kettle neatly sums up the Labour leadership issue:

The summer consensus is that Brown's leadership is safe until the general election. On balance, and against many of my instincts, I am part of that consensus. It seems unlikely that the party will decide to challenge a leader whom it chose only two years ago and whom it has twice declined to unseat when it might have done so.

Nevertheless, the fact is that Brown drags Labour down badly, as the result in Norwich may underline. Labour would do better at the general election with another leader than it would with its present one. It says everything you need to know about the Labour party in the summer of 2009 that it understands this and yet chooses not to act. It is hard not to conclude that a historically important party is now just waiting for the end.

As Brown and Co await their fate at lunchtime today, forget the turnout and the Tory majority.  What counts is the swing and whether Labour do finish second.  When all the hype and the instantaneous reactions fade away, there is only one question to ask.  What will Alan Johnson do?