Japanese politics rocked by defection of Shadow Shogun Ozawa's defection leaves Yoshihiko Noda, the prime minister, with a slender 15 seat majority in the lower house. Political analysts believe that Ozawa intends to ally himself with a number of minor opposition parties and push for a motion of no-confidence in the government. With Mr Noda already weakened, it appears likely that he will have to call a general election in late August and faces the ignominy of becoming the nation's seventh former prime minister since September 2005. Ozawa claimed that he was leaving after defying the party in a vote on reforms to social security and taxes last week, but there is a history of bad blood between the two men that was worsened when Mr Noda won the party presidential election in September last year. Mr Noda had promised to deal "strictly" with the rebels but Ozawa and his followers handed in their letters of resignation before finding out what their punishments would be. Ozawa - who has now resigned from no fewer than three separate political parties in a 43-year political career - has insisted that he will fight on in the Diet and will set up a new party patterned on the "Olive Tree coalition" that was tried in Italy in the 1990s. "He is very good at getting people together and then making him follow him, but when things do not go his way he just leaves," said Steven Reed, a professor of politics at Chuo University. I really don't think that his new party will do very well because Ozawa does not seem to realise just how unpopular he is. Many in the party and the general public dislike Ozawa's "bully-boy" approach to politics and the taint of corruption that clings to him. Ozawa was forced to resign as DPJ leader in May 2009 after being unable to shake off accusations of accepting bribes from a construction company and was acquitted in April this year of breaking political funding laws - although three aides were found guilty of falsifying entries in connection with a Y400 million (£3 million) land deal that dates back to 2004. While Mr Noda has the option of soldiering on with his narrow majority, more defections would leave him with a minority government and he is expected to call an election for later in the summer.