So, should Gordon Brown call a general election?

[beansprout]

And people not voting when it gets dark. What's that about?

oh yeh tip of my tongue ud!! lol
thought it was winston and i was beeing dim

To be honest I have to thank Nick Robinson (BBC correspondent) for that one. Good one to remember for a pub quiz!

I'd rather they didn't call one just now, I understand the dark thing myself- having lived in a no streetlights rurala rea- although they'd have to lock me up to stop me voting! But i'm supposed to be helping out with the electioneering and frankly not at the moment.

It also does seem rather cynical to just call an election when you have a best chance.

Agree that old Ming needs to go- he's not that old in real terms (68 is it?), but he just looks a good decade older, which really doesn't help anyone in the LD's imo.

Serving Prime Minister Spencer Perceval died in the lobby of the Houses of Parliament in 1812 .. the only British PM to have been assassinated.

A handful died in office, but Canning was the shirtest-lived.

Or even shortest-lived.

I think the most interesting aspect is not so much whether he calls it next month or next spring, but what will happen to the Tories when they (inevitably) lose.

They have now tried 4 leaders, from all parts of the party, none of whom have won the electorate over. Labour have become the natural party of government and I really can't see what is next for the Tories. All they need now is for the LDs to find a popular leader and they will be relegated to being the third party for a long, long time....

The thing to consider is that they know at this precise moment he would win. It's hard to look that chance in the face and say 'naaah let's wait until the spring' the economy might look more problematic by then and the injection of Tory money into key marginals might be taking effect.
I (tentatively) think they'll go for it.

They're not absolutely sure they'd win. Labour fear the polls being as wrong as they were in 1992 (about 8-9% wrong if I remember correctly). I think this is based on the idea that people are cagey about coming out as Tory in polls.

They're more sure now than they will be 7 months hence, about as sure as they'll ever be before going into a contest. It's events as well as the polls

Events dear boy....

indeed....although events so far have worked to make him look strong and capable, I guess that's why he spent the first part of his speech yesterday describing them and using the way people dealt with them as a cypher for himself.