IF HE ever fell, it was going to have to be a great spectacle. And so it has become. Bo Xilai, a former member of the Politburo who had aggressively sought promotion to the most elite circle of power, was expelled from the Communist Party of China in grand communist fashion, with a litany of lurid charges (including mistresses and bribe-taking) heaped high upon him in an account released on Friday, September 28th by Xinhua, an official news service.

The Politburo, which met earlier in the day, decreed that Mr Bo be handed over to judicial authorities. They are now expected to try him for corruption, for abuse of power, and for what amounts to some “major responsibility” in connection with his wife’s murder of Neil Heywood, a British businessman. Mr Bo, who had been the party secretary for the south-western region of Chongqing until he was sacked in March, now becomes the third great figure to face trial for a role in the affair of the Briton’s death in November 2011. Mr Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, was given a suspended death penalty in August for poisoning Mr Heywood at a hotel in Chongqing. Wang Lijun, Mr Bo’s former police chief, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on September 24th for, among other crimes, his role in covering up the murder—also for his attempted defection to an American consulate in February, the event that triggered Mr Bo’s public downfall. Mr Bo’s trial (its date not yet known) will be China’s most high-profile political case since the Gang of Four were put in the dock 31 years ago for abuses they oversaw during the Cultural Revolution.

For the party’s own future the crucial verdict on Mr Bo was the political one issued on the same day, which buried Mr Bo (and any who would support him), just before a once-a-decade leadership transition at its impending summit. The opening date of the party congress, November 8th, was also announced on September 28th. At its congress the party will unveil the seven or nine members of the next Politburo Standing Committee, the party’s most powerful ruling body. It is to be led by the current vice-president, Xi Jinping, who will stand as the party’s general secretary (he is to assume China’s presidency in March of next year).

Mr Bo, who is 63, had long hoped to play a pivotal role in the next leadership. He is, like Mr Xi, a son of a legendary revolutionary leader, and with the help of his father (Bo Yibo, who died in 2007), he had risen through party ranks: from mayor to provincial governor to minister of commerce and, finally, to a seat on the 25-member Politburo. When Mr Bo was named party secretary of Chongqing in 2007, it was assumed by many to be a dead-end for his career. He would have none of it. Mr Bo, who is unusually charismatic for a senior cadre, embarked on something the Communist Party was not accustomed to: a populist campaign for promotion. He launched an aggressive and highly visible crackdown on criminal gangs and corrupt cops; a nostalgic revival of Mao-era “red songs”; and ambitious schemes to address China’s widening rich-poor gap. Viewed by some as naked opportunism, it was hailed by others as “the Chongqing model”. Mr Bo became a hero to party conservatives who venerate Mao. Some believed he had, in a fashion after Mao, made himself a serious contender for greater power.