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Used of a person who is incapacitated or ineffectual, the phrase ‘lame duck’ alludes to a duck being unable to keep up with the rest of the flock through lameness. It first occurred in the eighteenth century at the London Stock Exchange, where it was used to describe brokers who could not afford to pay their debts. In an industry where animal terminology features often – bulls and bears, for example – the duck is in stark contrast to these aggressive beasts.

Today the expression has come to be used widely of a person in office who is destined to be replaced but remains in the role for the time being. Usually they stay either because, as in the case of American Presidents in their second term, they are unable to be re-elected, or because they choose not to be. Tony Blair, for example, could have been seen as a ‘lame duck’ British prime minister once he announced that he wouldn’t fight another election and Gordon Brown was waiting in the wings to succeed him.