It seems to me that in Britain at least any government with a huge majority has tended to assume de facto Divine Right. Blair's government might be accused of "going emeritus", to steal Pratchett's wonderfully evocative phrase, except that these aithoritarian trends were discernable from the start, in Blunkett's time at Education, for example. A top-down model of organisation of education, law and order, health, justice etc suits those at the top, and the Sir Humphreys of the world are no more going to argue against it than they did against very similar instincts during Maggie's reign. We will all love Big Brother once we recognise he has our best interests at heart.