Okay, so the British passport might be a problem, but he is intelligent, witty, well-travelled, debonair and has a strong support base. So why not vote for Michael Palin for US president?

Sure, Sarah Palin has generated a lot of headlines for the Republicans, and put some fizz in John McCain's campaign, but has he picked the wrong Palin?

Hundreds of thousands of people have been watching a YouTube video pushing the case for the former Python.

As the Sunday Times notes, you can interpret Palin's policies from his Python ouvre, such as a stance on the environment: "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay."