Strange timing, but Rebekah Brooks has finally bowed to the inevitable and fallen on her sword. Her position had been untenable since the decision to close News of the World and I was astonished she and the Murdochs couldn’t see that. Even now, judging by the tone of her resignation statement, I wonder if she “gets it”, as Ed Miliband might say.

Her evidence next Tuesday to the Culture, Media & Sport select committee will be very interesting to listen to, but I wonder now whether she will appear alongside the two Murdochs.

So a boil has been lanced. Or at least that’s how it appears in the minutes after her resignation. But it would have been so much better for her and her company had she gone a week ago. Any elementary student of crisis management techniques could have seen that. Why couldn’t the main protagonists?