BELFAST, Northern Ireland ─ British Conservative leader David Cameron visited Northern Ireland Tuesday, but people here are scratching their heads and asking, why did he bother?

BOSTON — They were supposed to be a bore — but Britain's elections have turned into high theater. The Conservatives, led by David Cameron, look likely to win the popular vote but not a majority of seats. The Labour party of Prime Minister Gordon Brown is trying not to implode. And the Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg — who has been likened to both Barack Obama and that most hallowed of British statesmen, Winston Churchill — could emerge as kingmaker.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Of all the obstacles to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s efforts to get his Labour Party re-elected next month, the biggest emerged with emphatic certainty this week: Brown himself. And as Labour faces the increasing likelihood it will need to form a coalition to stay in power, Brown’s spectacular ability to self-sabotage could leave him facing the ultimate ignominy of being sacked by his own party — a scenario that could thrust a relative unknown into the top job.